Carlos Eliseo Cuellar-Stories From The Barrio - A History of Mexican Fort Worth - 3246

I n his search to discover the roots of the Fort
Worth Hispanic community, Dr. Carlos Cullar

discovered a lack of historical documentation of
the rise of the fastest-growing ethnic minority in
the city. People of Mexican descent have tradi-
tionally been considered an invisible people, large-
Carlos Eliseo Cullar
ly undocumented, as if unworthy of notice. But
is assistant professor of history at Texas A&M
the history of this peoplefrom the stories of
International University at Laredo. Cullar
early Mexicanos, escaping the hardships of the
received his Masters from Texas A&M
Mexican Revolution, to the attempts of second
International University in 1990 and studied
generation Mexican Americans to assimilate, to
Latin American History at Texas Christian
the political voice secured by the Chicano genera-
University, completing his Ph.D. in May 1998.
tionbelies any thought of unworthiness.
In addition to his teaching duties at Texas
Sprinkled among analyses of census data, city
A&M International, Dr. Cullar serves as direc-
directory entries, and newspaper articles are fasci-
tor of the D.D. Hachar Honors Program at the
nating interviews with surviving relatives of the
university. He is director of the Guerrero Viejo
first Mexicanos, recording their early history in
Archives Preservation Project to microfilm and
Fort Worth. Contemporary community leaders
digitize over 250,000 church and municipal
and entrepreneurs tell the stories of their determi-
documents dating back to the 1750s. Dr. Cullar
nation to succeed and to serve not only the
has been married for the past twenty-nine years
Hispanic community but the city of Fort Worth.
to the former Angela Eugenia Guerra and has
Cullar delves into the lives of local artists and
two children, Carlos, Jr., and Anna Crista. This
musicians to discover their important contribu-
is his first book.
tions, and he explores the myriad Mexican restau-
rants that have been the springboard to success for
many.
From agricultural workers seeking a haven
from the ravages of war to individuals with politi-
cal power and a concern for public service, Fort
Worth Hispanics have struggled to make their
communities, and their larger world, better.
Carlos Cullars Stories from the Barrio is the first
attempt to examine the process, the people, and
their history, thus paving the way for further
research into Fort Worths diverse past.
Introduction
T C U P R E S S F O R T W O R T H
Copyright 2003 by Carlos Eliseo Cullar
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cullar, Carlos Eliseo, 1950-

Stories from the barrio : a history of Mexican Fort Worth / Carlos
Eliseo Cullar.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-87565-275-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Mexican AmericansTexasFort WorthHistory. 2. Mexican
AmericansTexasFort WorthSocial conditions. 3. Mexican
AmericansTexasFort WorthInterviews. 4. Fort Worth
(Tex.)History. 5. Fort Worth (Tex.)Ethnic relations. 6. Fort Worth
(Tex.)Biography. I. Title.
F394.F7 C84 2003
976.453150046872dc21
2003001146
Jacket illustrationscredits
Top row, L to R: Photograph courtesy of Herlinda Balderas Garca; Photograph taken

by author; Photograph courtesy of Michael and Hope (Padilla) Ayala.
Second row, L to R: Photograph courtesy of Aurora Vega Mata Burciaga; Photograph
courtesy of Esperanza Manrquez; Photograph courtesy of Michael and Hope (Padilla)
Ayala.
Bottom row, L to R: Photograph courtesy of Amador and Madeleine Gutirrez;
Photograph taken by author; Photograph courtesy of Hope Garca Lancarte and Mary
Garca Christian.
Cover and text design by Bill Maize; Duo Design Group

To my wife
Angela Guerra CuEllar

Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
1. Mexicanos Arrive in Fort Worth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Stories from the Barrios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3. Making a Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4. Family Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5. Religion and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
6. Community Life and Organizations . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
7. Arts and Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
8. Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Appendix A Fort Worth City Directory, 1920

Street Listings of Inhabitants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
Appendix B
Wesley Community House Daily Schedule, 1932-1933 .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..201
Appendix C
Wesley Community Center Report, circa 1953. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203
Appendix D
Medicinal Herbs and Their Use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Preface
This is one of the first attempts to tell the story of Fort Worths Mexican popula-
tion. It is impossible to know who were the first Mexicanos to arrive in Fort
Worth, the circumstances that led to their emigration, when they arrived, or
where they first settled. The reason for such obscurity lies in the scarcity of infor-
mation concerning Mexicanos in that period: There are few personal records,
memoirs, or diaries. Despite the paucity of official documentation, we know
through stories of later immigrants, thatsharing similar backgrounds, experi-
ences, and aspirationsthe Mexicanos who made Fort Worth their permanent
home quickly developed a sense of community.
Most came from the populous south-central Mexican states of Jalisco,
Michoacn, Guanajuato, and San Luis Potos. The majority of these families
had been forced out of their patria because of the violence and dislocation of
the Mexican Revolution. In many cases, the males arrived first in search of
employment. Once work was secured, a line of communication opened between
the jobholder and his family. His parientes (relatives) and friends from the same
village in Mexico soon made their way to Fort Worth, one by one or in small
groups. The stories of these immigrants are full of celebrated American virtues of
perseverance, hard work, willingness to risk, love of country and family, and the
entrepreneurial spirit. However noble their stories are, they are also disturbing in
the revelations of the very real physical hardships these people faced in emigrat-
ing. The hardships they encountered in their new country were less tangible
racism, discriminatory laws and unofficial practices, and a predatory economic
climate that had still not yet pulled itself out from under the twin legacies of
slavery and Reconstruction.
Hard-pressed to find employment in order to survive, this immigrant gen-
eration was forced to accept work that few others cared to do. Although they were
generally proud people who valued their employment, to the larger culture there
x Stories from the Barrio
seemed to be nothing extraordinary about their situation or circumstances. And

this very lack of notice precluded the amassing of materials documenting the his-
tory and lives of those people occupying the lowest rungs of Fort Worth society.
In other words, they were not considered worth writing about by people outside
their ethnic group or, sadly, even among themselves. And so, for years, Mexicanos,
especially in their role as minority immigrants in a strange land and in an alien
culture, seem to have been largely invisible and ahistoricalthat is, having no
story and no worthwhile contribution.
Throughout much of American history, emphasis has been on the western-
European aspects of its history and culture. The contributions of other races and
ethnic groups have often been slighted, even ignored. But, over the last six
decades, this focus has gradually given way to the recognition that history is not
complete without an account of all societys classes. Earlier books on Fort Worths
history scarcely mention Mexicans, much less give any indication of their
contributions to the citys history and culture. JNell Pates North of the River,
published in 1994, was the first book to acknowledge the life and contributions
of a few area Hispanic families.
To reconstruct the history of an ahistorical people, one must rely on dis-
covering what documentation is available from local official records, while
depending heavily on unofficial sources of informationinformal interviews
with older residents of the community and the reminiscences of younger
members of the culture, remembering what they can of the stories told by their
parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Unfortunately, once the elders are
gone, an important piece of history has been lost forever. Younger Hispanics find
that, in the attempt to discover their familys history, they are led to the larger saga
of their shared culture, which often helps them to establish their identity, bind the
family closer together, teach them valuable lessons based on past experiences,
provide guidance for the future, and promote an appreciation for history and the
historical process. It is in this spirit that I began the first history of Mexican Fort
Worthan attempt to discover family and cultural storiesin hopes that more
and more written documentation will emerge in the process of looking at this
important part of the culture at large.
CARLOS E. CULLAR
Acknowledgments
The enormous task of writing this book could not have been accomplished
without the generous spirit and assistance of many fine individuals to whom I
am eternally grateful.
My thanks go out to Chris Bonilla and Delsa Bonilla for initially pointing
out the overwhelming need for a Mexican history of Fort Worth. They planted the
seed that led me to pursue this subject.
Michael and Hope Ayala, lifetime residents of the North Side, were instru-
mental in opening many doors for personal interviews with families who could
contribute valuable information for this project. Without the Ayalas help, and the
help of their entire extended family, this book would have foundered.
A special thanks goes out to Pauline Willis Estrada, whom I met quite by
accident at the TCU Library. She afforded me one of the most pleasant surprises
of the project as she revealed her interesting past. Pauline and her husband, Sam
Estrada, graciously treated me as family, while explaining Fort Worths valuable
and unforgettable musical past.
In addition to a volume of information regarding the North Side and La
Yarda, Benito Soto Mercado gave me several tours of the different barrios and
accompanied me on a trip to Oklahoma City, to meet several former North Side
residents. Soto Mercado went the extra mile, and he represents all that is good,
friendly, and hospitable about Fort Worth.
A warm thank you goes out to Bennie Cardona, who initially agreed to see
me for a brief interview that ended up lasting from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM. I have
often wondered what the long interview would have been like.
North Side realtor, J. Pete Zepeda, helped me locate Fort Worths Hispanic
movie star, Pilar Bouzas, who has resided quietly in North Hollywood for many
decades. When I commented that he and other Mexican Americans no longer live
within the confines of the North Side (and other Fort Worth barrios), having
xii Stories from the Barrio
expanded out into previously all-Anglo neighborhoods, Zepeda sat back on his
office chair, smiled with satisfaction, and said, We are taking back the Southwest
one lot at a time!
My gratitude also goes out to community leaders such as Herlinda Balderas
Garca, Sam Garca, Jacinta Jurez, Mary Lou Lpez, Rufino Mendoza, Jr., Carlos
Puente, Cecilia Reyes, Ciquio Vsquez, and Louis J. Zapata for their valuable
insights into the political and social life of Mexican Fort Worth.
A delicious thanks to all the wonderful restaurateursMary Garca Christian
and Hope Garca Lancarte, Yvonne (Kiki ) Martnez Cisneros and Mary Martnez
Garza, Alfred and Alex Gallegos, Jr., Joe Holton, Sammy Pantoja, Robert Pulido, Sr.,
Rudy Rodrguez, and Lou Caro Whittennot only did they grant tasteful and
fascinating interviews, but they helped me become a more well-rounded indi-
vidual, gracias a their delicious cuisine.
I am tremendously grateful to professor William H. Beezley for his steady
encouragement and valuable assistance. TCUs legendary gentleman of history,
Donald E. Worcester, graciously read all chapters and gave reasoned observations.
D. Clayton Brown and Kenneth R. Stephens both took keen interest in my
research and provided wise guidance throughout the process.
Mexican American historian, Arnoldo De Len, of Angelo State University,
read the manuscript and made helpful suggestions. I am greatly indebted to him
for taking me under his wing and teaching me more about the history and expe-
riences of Mexican Americans and Chicanos in communities throughout the
United States.
Judy Alter and Susan Petty at TCU Press believed in this project from the
beginning and supported it all the way through developing the final manuscript.
They were extremely patient with me; I am deeply indebted to these talented
people.
I wish to thank my lovely wife, Angela, my son, Carlos Eliseo, Jr., his wife,
Jennifer, and my daughter, Anna Crista, for their love, patience, and encourage-
ment. Without their steadfast support, none of this would have been possible.
And, lastly, I never cease thanking God for my family and for His guidance in my
life and work.
Introduction
The history of Mexican Fort Worth does not begin at a specific point, say 1883,
the year the first Mexicanos are mentioned in the Fort Worth City Directory, but
rather takes into account the sum total of their collective past. This complex his-
tory must include the story of their original circumstances in Mexico; their
sources of livelihood; the social, economic, and political conditions with which
they had to cope; the reasons for leaving their country; the exodus to the United
States; the choices they made as to where to go and what to do; and the obstacles
they faced.
Since the time of the conquista, when Cortez and his men subdued the mighty
Aztec empire, Spaniards and native Indians intermarried to create mestizajea new
mixed-blood nation with unique characteristics, institutions, and culture. The
conquest of the New World, with its annihilation and subjugation of native peo-
ples and culture, together with the terrors associated with the Inquisition, engen-
dered a stereotypical view of Spaniards as a brutal and flawed race. The Alamo,
Goliad, the Mexican War, sporadic border banditry, and Pancho Villas exploits all
reinforced negative Texan attitudes regarding their neighbors to the south. This
mentality affected Anglo-Mexicano relations for generations.
MEXICANOS IN EXILE
From 1876 to 1880 and then again from 1884 to 1911, under the dictatorship of
Porfirio Daz (1830-1915), Mexico enjoyed political peace and prosperity
unknown since colonial times.1 But the peace came at a pricegenerating pros-
perity that was enjoyed by only a few. During this time, called the Porfiriato, Daz
ruled with an iron hand, and the living standards of the very poorest of Mexicos
population fell to unthinkable levels. Simmering resentments of the obdurate
policies of Daz, which alienated his former supporters, coupled with the dispar-
ity in wealth, came to a head in 1910 and sparked the Mexican Revolution.2 The
xiv Stories from the Barrio
decade from 1910-1920 is characterized as one of the most turbulent periods in

Mexican history. An outgrowth of the Porfiriato and its repressive policies, the rev-
olution united Mexicans of all classes to overthrow the despised dictator. While
upper class Mexicanos fought to regain political power and protect their wealth,
the peasants of the lower classes were caught in a war they didnt really under-
stand and were unable to protect themselves from. If they chose to bear arms, they
were invariably the population most likely to be killed. Their only other alterna-
tives were to hide or to flee to America.3
The construction of railroads in Mexico and the dislocations associated with
the Porfiriato and the Mexican Revolution contributed to a mass exodus of
Mexicanos from their beloved patria into the United States. Many sought refuge
in Texas, finding employment as agricultural and livestock workers, coal miners,
railroad crewmen, construction workers, packinghouse workers, steelworkers,
cooks, dishwashers, and domestics. Fort Worth and surrounding areas, experienc-
ing a steadily expanding population and burgeoning economy, provided many
opportunities for immigrants.
Before 1910, Mexican migration north had been light, and most of those
who came intended to return once they had earned enough money to satisfy their
needs. The instability and violence of the Mexican Revolution caused hundreds
of thousands of refugees to flee north to the safety of the United States. By the
end of the 1920s, a number of barrios had developed around the major industries
in different areas of Fort Worth. And the barrios soon expanded with immigrant
Mexicanos, eager to begin a new life in a new world.
Many worked as migrant agricultural laborerscotton pickers who followed
the annual Big Swing harvest cycle that began in South and Central Texas and
ended in the northern and western parts of the state.4 Fort Worths railroads,
stockyards, packing houses, steel plants, hotels, restaurants, and coffee shops
offered the migrants and refugees opportunities for steady employment in one
locale.
Thrust into an alien world, Mexicanos did their best to adjust and adapt to
a new environment and culture. Some came with the intention of returning as
soon as Mexicos crisis abated, but in spite of initial obstacles, most Mexicanos
stayed, made Fore Wes their home, and demonstrated a resiliency that helped
Introduction xv
them overcome the social, economic, and political challenges of subsequent

decades. For most Mexicanos it was a positive change; some even succeeded in
a big way. The American Dream became not only their dream but also their
reality.
Their childrens identity underwent a significant transformation. They
attended American schools, spoke mostly English, and embraced many aspects of
the new culture. This was the Mexican-American generationchildren born in
America who were bilingual, bicultural, and, for the most part, unfamiliar with
their parents homeland. To avoid pronunciation difficulty teachers gave many
school children Anglo names, while others readily adopted them for assimilation
purposes. With few exceptions, the tendency to assimilate increased with each
succeeding generation; conversely, Spanish literacy gradually decreased.
World War II brought additional challenges and unprecedented opportuni-
ties. Fort Worths Mexican Americans enlisted, trained, and fought on many
fronts. While some paid the ultimate price, many veterans returned determined to
forge changes. The ensuing civil rights movement focused attention on opening
up greater opportunities in jobs, housing, and education. Barrios exploded
beyond their previously fixed boundaries, greater numbers of Mexican Americans
went on to college, and career opportunities broadened dramatically.
From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, the Chicano movement called
attention to the social, political, economic, and cultural realities of a growing
ethnic population. As a result, Mexicanos and Mexican Americans were no
longer viewed as a passive, invisible, or ahistorical people. Chicano historians
such as Ricardo Romo, Albert Camarillo, Richard Griswold del Castillo, Mario T.
Garca, Arnoldo De Len, George J. Snchez, and F. Arturo Rosales depicted
their subjects as people who adapted to changing realities and who created a
world and culture all their own.
The stories from the barrios are fascinating and reveal much about the
social and cultural nature of the people. Residents from most of the barrios
North Side, South Side, Rock Island, La Corte, and El TPshare where they came
from, how they happened to arrive in Fort Worth, and what life was like in their
barrios. A housewife, a mailman, a Hollywood actor, a street urchin, a railroad
worker, a restaurateur, and a mystic engage in discussions on home remedies,
xvi Stories from the Barrio
natural medicines, border and Mexican cuisine, success in business, wakes and
funerals, racism, pilgrimages, and mysticism. Each has added immeasurably to the
character of Fort Worth and without them and their stories, our city would be a
poorer place to live.
Fort Worth has indeed never been the same. The contributions by
Mexicanos have been incalculable: Their labor transformed the skyline and
allowed the economy to grow and prosper. Their cuisine forever changed the
citys eating habits, and their music, dances, and customs added diversity to
Cowtowns already rich cultural legacy. They are an integral part of Fort Worths
history.
Chapter 1
M EXICANOS A RRIVE
IN F ORT W ORTH
The history of Mexicanos in Fort Worth goes back almost as far as the history of
the city itself. Early Mexican residents arrived in the 1880s, finding a settlement
that had been established less than forty years earlier.
E A R LY Y E A R S
In 1849 Major Ripley S. Arnold set up an army camp on the bluff overlooking the
Trinity River at the confluence of the Clear Fork and the West Fork. The camp
occupied part of the land now graced by the Tarrant County Courthouse. In those
days, the threat of marauding Indians was ever-present, and the outpost was part
of General Williams Jenkins Worths plan to build ten forts to mark the Texas
frontier. As always, where the army went, so went entrepreneurs eager to make a
living providing services to the military population. The 1850 census count for
the fort was 111 totaltwo commanding officers, one doctor, ninety-two soldiers,
four adult women, six adult men, and six children. The army occupied the bluff
site until its evacuation in 1853. After that, settlers came in to take possession of
the buildings and facilities the army had left behind.1 The area was now poised
on the brink of settlement and expansion. Schools were established, retail stores
flourished, and both the Butterfield Overland Mail and Southern Pacific stage
lines set up Fort Worth stagecoach stops on their routes to California.
During that same year, 1849, Tarrant County was officially established by
the Texas legislature. It took its name from General Edward H. Tarrant, who was
instrumental in driving the Indians from the area. The county seat was Birdville,
a town in an area now encompassed by Haltom City; the first county election was
2 Stories from the Barrio
held in 1850. Prominent Fort Worth citizens soon began lobbying to move the
county seat to that city. Grievances began to build and came to a head in 1856 in
a vote to select the county seat. Both counties were in the habit of bringing in
whiskey to encourage men to vote in their favor, but Tarrant County partisans
took the tradition a step further: On the eve of the election, they stole the influ-
ential barrel of whiskey right out of the Birdville courthouse (really nothing more
grand or substantial than a log cabin). The whiskey was apparently the deciding
factor, because Tarrant County won the election by six votes. The county seat
was transferred, after a long and bitter struggle, from Birdville to Fort Worth,
and construction of the new courthouse began in 1860. The courthouse might
have become the symbol of a new era of prosperity for the city had it not been
for the outbreak of the Civil War. That conflict and the ensuing Reconstruction
period, wreaked havoc on the Fort Worth economy. The population shrank to
about 175. Those few remaining faced many hardships, lacking food, money, and
other vital supplies.
After the Civil War, South Texas ranchers began driving their cattle north to
the Kansas markets and created trails the cowboys followed through the brush.
As cowboys became accustomed to stopping off in Fort Worth on their way to
Kansas, the economy revived.
During this time Fort Worth became known as Cowtownit was the
last stop on the Chisholm Trail, which led to markets in the North. Of course,
along with the cowboys came the need for recreation and for letting off steam.
The area known as Hells Half Acre sprang up, providing all the amenities for
steam-lettingsaloons, dance halls, gambling establishments, and houses of
prostitution. The Acre occupied about two-and-a-half acres in downtown Fort
Worth, an area bounded by Main Street on the west, Jones on the east, Seventh
Street on the north, and Fifteenth Street on the south. This area is now home to
the Fort Worth Convention Center and the Water Gardens. In the 1870s however,
Hells Half Acre was notorious around the state for its lawlessness. While this
appealed to the cowboys, the local citizenry took a dim view of the rise in crime
and the salacious reputation. Desiring to make their city a safer place, they elect-
ed Longhair Jim Courtright as city marshal in 1876 with the mandate to clamp
down on crime. Predictably, the stricter environment resulted in an economic
Mexicanos Arrive in Fort Worth 3
slump, as the cowboys saw no reason to tarry in a place that no longer offered
their accustomed amusements.
In 1875, the population of Fort Worth numbered about 800.2 The city
earned another nickname, Panther City, for being so empty and uneventful that
panthers slept in the streets. But the arrival of the Texas & Pacific Railroad in 1876
put an end to that supposed quietude, and by 1880 the population of Fort Worth
had grown to 6,663. The railroad quickly took its place as one of the main eco-
nomic forces in the city in the late nineteenth century. People took advantage of
the new, more convenient means of transportation and the possibilities of jobs
working on the miles of track to be laid, leading to phenomenal growth between
1880 and 1890. During that decade, the population swelled from 6,663 to
23,076an increase of 246 percent.3
THE EARLIEST MEXICANOS
The tenth United States census for Tarrant County, taken in June 1880, reveals
the first evidence of Mexicanos in the city of Fort Worthfourteen men ranging
in age from fifty-five to twenty-one. In addition to the first and last names of the
informants, the census data also included age, marital status, current status, occu-
pation, country of origin, as well as the origins of their parents.4 The current sta-
tus category apparently was reserved for those who were prisoners in one of the
local jails. (See Figure 1-1.)
Most of these Mexicanos were single, with the exception of D. Gmez, and
most were young, in their twenties or thirties. Mexico was the country of origin
for most of the informants, as well as for their parents, indicating that the men
had recently emigrated to find work in the United States. Four of theseDe Bare,
Gonzallas [sic], Slaughter, and Snchezmigrated from other parts of Texas. All
worked in low-paying, bottom-tier occupations, such as laborer, which probably
meant that they worked for one of the railroads. Keeping in mind that the first
railroad, the Texas & Pacific, arrived in 1876 and the first Hispanics show up on
the 1880 census, it is safe to surmise that the railroads were instrumental in bring-
ing the first Mexicanos to the Fort Worth area.
The other categories give sketchy but tantalizing glimpses into the lives of
these men, raising more questions than they answer. Both Lorenzo and Carin
Figure 1-1 THE TENTH U.S. CENSUS, 1880
Name Age Marital Status Current Status Occupation Father Mother Self
Lorenzo, Francis 35 prisoner laborer Mex Mex Mex

Carin, Juan 30 prisoner cook Mex Mex Mex
De Bare, Peter 21 barkeep Tex Fr Mex
Garca, Andrew 23 Single dishwasher Mex Mex Mex
Gmez, D. 33 Married laborer Mex Mex Mex
Gonzallas [sic] Joe 25 Single herder Tex Mex Mex
Pas, Narciso 55 Single laborer Mex Mex Mex
Torris[sic] Gorgona 50 Single laborer Mex Mex Mex
Lpez, Manuel 31 Single laborer Mex Mex Mex
Martenas[sic] Arhill 30 Single laborer Mex Mex Mex
Slaughter, John 27 Single laborer Tex Mex Mex
Snchez, John 22 Single laborer Tex Mex Mex
Garca, Angel 25 Single harvesting Mex Mex Mex
Gonzlez, Clemente 40 Single harvesting Mex Mex Mex
Source: Taken from the Tenth Census of the United States. Population schedules of the tenth census of the United States, 1880: Texas. National Archives
microcopy no. T9. Roll 1328: Tarrant, Taylor, Throckmorton, Titus, and Tom Green counties.
were incarcerated in the city jail. What had they done? What were their stories?
A product of a mixed marriage, De Bare noted his country of origin as Texas,
whereas his fathers was France and his mothers, Mexico. How did he come to
Fort Worth? What drew him? Joe Gonzallas occupation is listed as herder, and,
although he is shown as Mexican, he is the son of a Texan. We can only guess at
possible scenarios: Had his family previously emigrated to another part of Texas
and then returned to Mexico, perhaps to be confronted with difficult economic
times that drove them back to Texas? Did Joe come to Fort Worth hoping to bring
his family later, as so many immigrants did? It is unfortunate that this census data
does not reflect addresses: A specific numbered address would have been invalu-
able in helping to resolve precisely where Mexicanos first congregated.
The annual Fort Worth City Directory (the first was published in 1877)
provides another source of information about Mexicanos first appearance on
the scene. 5 Although heavily sponsored by ads touting local businesses, city
directories functioned as more than commercial directories. Listings included
residential address, head of household, occupation, and sometimes place of
employment. As telephones became more common, telephone numbers were
also included. Another significant function of the earlier directories was promotion
of the city to outsiders, usually with bright promises of commercial opportuni-

ties to be found in Fort Worth. No Hispanic surnames appear in the city direc-
tories from 1877 to 1882, even though the 1880 U.S. Census lists fourteen such
surnames. The 1883-1884 Fort Worth City Directory is the first edition in which
Hispanic surnames were foundand there were only two: Riley Gonzales and
Antonio Pea.
A comparison of the 1885-1886 and 1886-1887 city directories (Figures 1-2
and 1-3, respectively) reveals a pattern of transience in the immigration of
Mexicanos to Fort Worth. Residents listed in the 1885-1886 directory do not
appear in the subsequent edition, suggesting that, for some reason, most of the
earliest Mexicanos arriving in Fort Worth did not stay long. The transient nature
of the Hispanic population could be attributed to a number of factors such as ill
treatment, lack of satisfying jobs, search for better employment situations else-
where, or the longing to return home. Nevertheless, the information contained in
these city directories also shows the beginnings of the neighborhoods. Sanborn
maps for 1885 and 1889 show mixed commercial and residential use in those
blocks where the directories indicate the Mexicanos lived. Although the intersec-
tion of South Rusk and East Twelfth was dominated by residences (some labeled
Negro Shanties) in 1885, the businesses included two saloonsone with a
dance hall. A female boardinghouse was immediately next door.
Calhoun Street, between Seventh and Eighth, is the business address given
for Mr. Balcazo, but no residence information is provided. The 1885 Sanborn
Figure 1-2 FORT WORTH CITY DIRECTORY, 1885-1886
Name Occupation Residence
Aguilar, Hijnio tamales peddler bds J. G. Carper

Canapa, Manuel groceries nw cor Twelfth/Rusk r. same
Delagarca, Jos tamales peddler Bds J. G. Carper
Garca, Miguel tailor Dahlman Bros bds Mrs. S. H. Price
Gonzles, Flix r. ns T&P Ry nr Pine
Gonzles, Riley lab r.es Arizona Ave bt Elizabeth
and Henrietta
Leal, Jos tailor Dahlman Bros bds Mrs. S. H. Price
Mendoza, Millie Miss actress Theatre Comique
Trevio, Frank tamales peddler bds J. G. Carper
Name Nationality Occupation/Business Residence

Address or Location Address or Location
Balcazo, Hilerio Calhoun bt 7th & 8th

Baloayo, Hilario wks John S. Andrews
& Co Stockyards
Estrada, Antonio saddle girth maker r. 312 Bluff
Garca, Pedro wks stock pens rms near same
Garza, Antonio wks coal chute r. 417 Louisiana Ave
Gonzales, A. performer Fashion Theatre r. E.Tenth
Gonzales, Henry Comique Theatre r. cor Twelfth & Rusk
Gonzales, Riley Mex wks stock pens r. cor Elizabeth/Arizona
Leal, Joseph tailor Dahlman Bros r. 300 Grove cor Second
Trevio, Frank lab T&P Stockyards bds stockyards
map does not include that half of the block (the northeast side of Calhoun), but
the block just north (between Sixth and Seventh) was designated mixed use. In
the 1889 Sanborn map, the block on the northeast side of Calhoun between
Seventh and Eighth was occupied by the Kentucky Stables and Stock Yard. It is
quite possible that the listings of Balcazo and Baloayo could refer to the same
person. Records confirm the occurrence of the surname Balcazo, but not the
name Baloayo. To complicate matters even more, the surname Valoayo also
occurs. It would not be unreasonable to find the name written with a B,
given the similarity in the Spanish pronunciations of b and vmost English
speakers would transcribe Valoayo as Baloayo.
Only three Mexicanos seem to have lived in Fort Worth when both the
1885-1886 and the 1886-1887 city directories were published: Riley Gonzales,
Jos Leal, and Frank Trevio. Although they are listed in the 1885-1886 directory,
Hijnio Aguilar, Manuel Canapa, Jos Delagarca, Miguel Garca, Flix Gonzales,
and Millie Mendoza do not appear in subsequent editions. Hilerio [sic?] Balcazo,
Hilario Baloayo, Pedro Garca, Antonio Garza, A. Gonzales, Henry Gonzales, and
Frank Treviolisted in the 1886-1887 directorydo not reappear in the direc-
tory for the following year. As so many individuals were transient, it is difficult
to find materials documenting their lives, and so stories must be pieced together
and surmised from the available data.
THE NEIGHBORHOODS EMERGE
In Fort Worth, as in most places, economic opportunities dictated settlement pat-

terns. The earliest Latino enclaves or barrios included La Diecisiete, La Corte, El
Papalote, North Side, La Yarda, La Loma, El TP, and La Fundicin (South Side). (See
Figure 1-4 for the locations of the earliest barrios.)
LA DIECISIETE
The initial concentration of Mexicans was at the intersection of Thirteenth and

Rusk (now Commerce) streets and the 1300 to 1500 block of Calhoun Street. Early
Fort Worth city directories point to an area bounded by Twelfth and Seventeenth
streets and Commerce and Calhoun streets (the southern part of Hells Half Acre)
as being the first barrio where Mexicanos tended to live. 6 This first geographic
core eventually spread north, south, east, and west to other barrios as more indus-
tries were established. Gradually the core neighborhood shifted a few blocks south
and became popularly referred to as La Diecisiete (seventeen).
Riley Gonzales, one of the two early Mexicano residents of La Diecisiete
found in the 1883-1884 Fort Worth City Directory, was a laborer who lived on the
south side of Seventeenth Street between Brewer and Elm streets, about five
blocks north of the Union Depot and Fort Worths original stockyards (the
present-day intersection of Interstate 30 and Interstate 35). Mr. Gonzales settled
in Fort Worth early and lived in the city until his death. He worked at the stock
pens until about 1925, but the directories show that he moved almost every
year to addresses either north or south of the stock pens and always within easy
walking distance of that facility.7
It is easy to track Riley Gonzales in the various city directories, but the trail of
Antonio Pea, the second Mexicano in the 1883-1884 directory, is much more dif-
ficult to follow. The address listed for him (r. ss 19th bt Adamson, Lawrence) does
not appear on any Fort Worth map of the period. He probably lived near the origi-
nal stockyards and worked as a day laborer. Another itinerant laborer of this early
period (1885-1886 directory) was Flix Gonzales (see Figure 1-2) who lived on the
north side of the T&P railyard near Pine Streeteast of the original stockyards.
Hijnio Aguilar, Jos Delagarca, and Frank Trevio all boarded with John G.
Carper, a musician who resided on the southwest corner of East Twelfth and
Figure 1-4 1892 MAP OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS
Hells Half Acre, earliest area La Diecisiete, first barrio La Corte, second barrio,
1 of Hispanic settlement 2 3 located around the courthouse
Rand, McNalley & Co., Engravers. Chicago. 1892 map of Fort Worth showing areas of the earliest barrios.
Pecan streets (see Figure 1-2). This neighborhood, located just east of the infa-
mous Hells Half Acre, seemed to be popular with new arrivals and transients. Not
only did these three men board together, but they also sold tamales in and around
the downtown district.8 Manuel Canapa lived at the intersection of Twelfth and
Rusk streets, three blocks southwest of Carpers home, and managed his neigh-
borhood grocery business from the same location.9 In the 1886-1887 edition of
the Fort Worth City Directory (see Figure 1-3), two men were listed as actors or per-
formers at local theatres. A. Gonzales is shown as Performer at the Fashion
Theatre, while the entry for Henry Gonzales merely notes Comique Theatre.
Some sources give the Fashion Theatres address as 1616 Main Street, but
Sanborn maps of 1885 show that address occupied by a shoemaker and barber.
The Comique Theater, located a few blocks south of the courthouse at 301 Main
Street (corner of Main and Second streets), was owned by Alexander Wilson, who
provided the town with entertainment commonly referred to as leg opera. A
precursor of vaudeville, a leg opera theatre featured comic skits, juggling, and
singing and dancing provided by resident as well as traveling troupes. Prostitution
and gambling were often ancillary features.10 A. Gonzales lived on East Tenth
Street, not too far away from Henry Gonzales residence at the corner of Twelfth
and Rusk. Henrys residence at the corner of Twelfth and Rusk streets made him
either a neighbor or boarder of grocer Manuel Canapa. However, its tempting to
speculate that these two men who shared the same surname and occupation
might have been brothers or cousins from a performing family, come to the new
land to seek their fortune.
LA CORTE
La Corte, an area located southwest of the courthouse between Belknap and

Third streets and Cherry and Burnett streets, attracted Mexicanos who worked
primarily as busboys, cooks, dishwashers, maids, and laundry workers at down-
town hotels, restaurants, and coffee shops. Miguel Garca and Jos Leal, however,
were two early residents of La Corte who worked as tailors for the Dahlman
Brothers clothing store located at Houston and First streets. Both men boarded at
the home of Susan H. Price, the widow of Thomas F. Price, who lived on Belknap
Street between Lamar and Burnett streets. This area took its colloquial name of
La Corte for its proximity to the heart and soul of the downtown district. Because
of its location, conveniently close to downtown businesses, La Corte was the
second Mexican barrio established in Fort Worth.
Another early resident of La Corte, Miss Millie Mendoza, was an actress at
the Theatre Comique, 301 Main Street (corner of Main and Second streets). Ms.
Mendozas listed residential address is that of the theater, indicating that there
were probably rooms available for some of its employees. While Millie had a
Hispanic surname, it is unclear whether she was Spanish or Mexican or Anglo
married to a man with an Hispanic surname.
With few Anglos, La Corte became a residential haven for minorities. The
other racial groups to whom this neighborhood was home included five African
American families and one Chinese family with five children. A resident in the
1920s, Sammy Pantoja, remembered mimicking the Chinese man who always
went about echando madres en chino. Literally, this translates to spewing out
mothers in Chinese. Losing some meaning in translation, this slang phrase
would more accurately mean cussing indiscriminately in Chinese.11
Located on a bluff near the Trinity River, La Corte was divided on a topo-
graphic basis into what Spanish-speaking residents referred to as el barrio de abajo
and el barrio de arriba (the lower neighborhood and the upper neighborhood,
respectively). In the lower area were several wood yards, some owned by
Mexicanos such as Vicente Mrques, who provided customers with wood for
stoves and fireplaces. During the 1920s other Latino families lived in the barrio,
including those headed by Antonio Zapata, Filiberto Briones, Alfonso Jara,
and Aurelio (Earl) Bouzas. A good neighbor, Doa Josefa (Chefa) Cruz was
la partera (the midwife) who assisted area women with birthing. There was even a
neighborhood curandero (natural healer), Don Pedro Molina, who helped area
families deal with their health problems.12
EL PAPALOTE
Another barrio known as El Papalote (windmill in Spanish) emerged not far from
La Diecisiete to the southwest, immediately southeast of the current I-35 and I-30
interchange. Because it was located directly east of the original stockyards and
adjacent to many rail lines, it was a convenient place to live, and it became the
foremost barrio in the first half of the twentieth century. The main street in this
neighborhood was Presidio, and the cross streets were Kentucky, Poplar, Cedar,
and Cypress avenues. There was no windmill in the area; the barrio got its name
from the fact that the earliest Mexicanos had difficulty pronouncing the word
poplar and altered it to something more familiar and easier to say.
THE NORTH SIDE
Perhaps the largest and most influential of all the Hispanic enclaves was the old
North Side. Its history goes back to 1902 when Chicago-based Swift and
Company and the Armour Packing Company13 both established satellite facilities
in Fort Worth. Home to at least six major railroads by the turn of the century, the
city naturally had begun to attract more industry. Immigrants from Spain, Italy,
Greece, Eastern Europe, Poland, and Russia poured into the old North Side to
work for the slaughterhouses, making it at first a microcosm of eastern and
southern Europe. But recently arrived Mexicanos in search of the same employ-
ment opportunities14 soon made it their home as well. Shared culture and
language, along with property restrictions and covenants, kept Mexicanos
confined to certain well-defined areas within the city. Over the next three decades
the population of Mexicanos grew larger than Eastern Europeans until the North
15
Side became a distinctively Mexican barrio.
Highlighting the new shift is a list of Hispanic names from the 1905-1906
city directory. (See Figure 1-5)
The 1905-1906 city directory was the first to note Mexicanos who worked
for the two meatpacking plants. Fred Garca, Fred Garza, Joseph Garza, Jos
Hernndez, and Juan Leal worked for Swift and Company, while James Gonzales
and Manuel J. Zepeda worked at Armour and Company. All of these individuals,
except Manuel J. Zepeda, lived in what was probably a rooming house at 2012
16
North Grove Street. The residences of these laborers in the newly established
North Fort Worth subdivisionan area that would come to be popularly referred
to as the North Sideagain reflected the need to live within walking distance
of work. This neighborhood, just south of the new stockyards and meatpacking
plants, was defined on the west by North Main Street, on the east by North Grove,
on the north by Northeast 23rd Street, and on the south by Northside Drive.
Name Occupation & Location Residence
Acosta, Meryildo [sic] tailor Borschow, Levin & Safferstone

Cruz, Juan cook Severo Lopez rms 305 Main
Delarossa, Aleadio restaurant 1305 Calhoun r. same
Fuentes, Gregoria servant Rev. Junius r. same
Garca, Fred lab Swift & Co. r. 2012 Grove N.Ft.W
Garca, Juan lab I.& G.N. Ry bds 1318 Edward
Garca, Kate Miss h. 929 E. Leuda
Garza, Fred lab Swift & Co. rms 2012 Grove N.Ft.W
Garza, Joseph lab Swift & Co. rms 2012 Grove N.Ft.W
Gmez, Jos r. 1301 Calhoun
Gonzles, Amador G. servant E.H. Carter r. same
Gonzles, Elmo jewelry stand r. 114 W. Belknap
Gonzles, James butcher Armour r. Grove
Gonzles, Joseph M. tailor Stonestreet & Davis bds 404 Taylor
Gonzles, Lupe (Mrs. A.G.) cook E.H. Carter r. same
Gonzles, Riley wks T&P Stockyards r. 1236 Daggett
Gonzles, Victor peddler rms 109 E. 13th
Govea, Jess chile stand 109 E. 13th r. same
Guerraro [sic], Jess waiter Hotel Rosen
Hernndez, Ascensin chile stand 1401 Jennings Av r. 110 E.14
Hernndez, Carmile tamale peddler rms 110 E. 14th
Hernndez, Enoch wks Mrs. S.A. Conner
Hernndez, Enrique cook Victoria Martinez
Hernndez, Jos lab Swift & Co. rms 2012 Grove
Hernndez, Sabino waiter rms 302 Main
Hernndez, Severino waiter Jim Kle rms 110 E. 14th
Leal, Jess M. tailor A.&L.August r. 207 E. 3rd
Leal, Jos A. tailor Washer Bros r. 207 E. 3rd
Leal, Juan lab Swift & Co. rms 2012 Grove
Lpez, Eugenio waiter Jos Lpez h. same
Lopez, Jos Mex chile stand 114 Houston r. 1113 Taylor
Lpez, Martinas P. barber shop, chile stand 1302 Rusk r. same
Lpez, Severo chile stand 305 Main r. 1113 Taylor
Lozano, Zeferino chile stand W. Belknap r. same
Martnez, Salvador tailor rms 310 Calhoun
Martnez, Victoria Mrs. restaurant 311 W. 13th r. same
Muos, Guillermo lab I.& G.N. Ry bds 1318 Edward
Rodrguez, Pietro tamale peddler r. sw cor E.10th/Harding
Rodrguez, Refugia R. (wid Fco) h. 109 E. 13th
Sandoval, Alexander S. driver Tex Prtg Co. r. 824 Monroe
Trevio, Charles lab bds 300 E. RR Ave
Uzueta, Silverio lab r. 1301 Calhoun
Zapata, Benjamn lab I.& G.N. Ry bds 1318 Edward
Zepeda, Manuel J. lab Armour & Co. r. 2207 N. Calhoun
By the 1920s the Mexican population of the North Side had increased so
that it was now the largest of the Fort Worth barrios. Appendix A is a block-by-
block listing of inhabitants on the North Sides three principal streetsNorth
Commerce, North Calhoun, and North Grove streets. This listing, taken from the
1920 Fort Worth City Directory, shows that most of the inhabitants of this neigh-
borhood were Mexican with a few Greeks and other Eastern Europeans mixed in.
Within the North Side proper there existed two sub-barrios known as
el barrio de la garra (of the rag) and el barrio del pujido (of the groan). El barrio de la
garra, located east of North Grove between 14th and East Central, earned its
name from all the cloth baby diapers that hung from clotheslines. El barrio del puji-
do, bounded by North Commerce, North Grove, 20th and 21st streets, was so
named because walking up the embankment of the usually dry Marine Creek
17
elicited groans and moans from older pedestrians.
Most North Side Mexicanos lived in relative peace and harmony with each
other, but there were exceptions. One of the greatest family feuds took place in
el barrio del pujido in the summer of 1936. The Robledo family home at 2009 North
Calhoun was located right across the street from the Garca family home at 2010.
Good-looking and light-skinned (parecan espaoles), Jos Robledos sons were
Benncio, Eduardo, and Esteban. Jos made neighbors uneasy because he
approached them on the street and somewhat threateningly asked for money. The
Garca family resented his demands, as did others in the neighborhood, and
antagonism festered. No one knows for sure who started the feud, but when it
was all over three members of each family had been killed. Jos Robledos throat
was cut in a North Main bar near the present El Rancho Grande Restaurant,
Benncio was shot to death, and Esteban was disemboweled. Eduardo Robledo
took the hint and moved to Houston.
Three members of the Garca clan were killed on September 16, 1936.18
One was shot at point-blank range as he sat in his car waiting for his wife who
was shopping in Leonards Department Store. The surviving member of the
19
Garca family was told bluntly by police to leave town.
Few events in the North Side were as traumatic. Everyday life was difficult,
especially during the Depression, but most residents were remarkably resilient
and able to transcend many trials. The individuals who populated the North Side
came from every region of Texas and Mexico. Those who stayed in Fort Worth
found employment, raised families, and made the city their home. The North Side
represents a cross-section of the migrant/immigrant experiencean experience
that yielded significant contributions and ultimately changed the character of Fort
Worth forever.
LA YARDA
La Yarda, a mini-barrio of 1920s North Side, was located at the east end of
Terminal Road about where it intersected with Runnels Street. Railroad crews
working for the Cotton Belt Railway refurbished old boxcars to give them the
appearance of homes: Wheels were removed and doors and windows added for
convenient access, light, and ventilation. Families usually cooked and washed
dishes, clothes, and themselves outdoors. Depending on the size of the fami-
20
lies one or even two families lived in each car. During the late 1920s and
early 1930s Romn Soto Mercado worked for the Cotton Belt Railroad, and he
and his wife, Helen Flores Soto, lived on Terminal Road in La Yarda.21 Several
of the Soto Mercado children, including Benito, were born in their boxcar
home.22
LA LOMA
La Loma was a neighborhood consisting of about seven to ten Hispanic families

in North Fort Worth near Meacham Field between Clinton and Ellis avenues and
West Long Avenue and Northwest Thirty-sixth Street (a traditionally white
area).23 Mexicanos had formerly been limited geographically to housing in the
24
sector just south of the new stockyards and meatpacking plants. By 1923 Amado
Rangel was the first Mexicano to move his family to 3602 Ellis Avenue, near
Meacham Field. Over the years a few more families joined the Rangels, thereby
creating a small barrio that became popularly known as La Loma.
EL TP
Before 1928, most men employed by the Texas & Pacific Railroad had lived south
of the downtown district in and around La Diecisiete near the original round-
25
house. In the 1928 city directory there is evidence that crews working for the
railroad had created another barrio. Figure 1-6 shows for the first time Hispanics
with southwest side addresses.
A small community of Mexicans who worked for the Texas & Pacific
Railroad settled in the area where Vickery Boulevard now intersects with
Montgomery Street between Locke and Lovell avenues and Pulido and
Montgomery streets, to be near the railroad. This new barrio naturally became
known as El TP. The assistant engineers office was located at 3505 Rutledge
Avenue, and it is quite possible that the railroad also moved its roundhouse oper-
ations to the area about this time. In addition to the Pedro Pulido family, other
families moved into the neighborhoodToribio and Avelina Mendoza, Tony and
Juanita Rodrguez, Jos and Panchita Mata, Augustn and Maxine Mosqueda, and
26
Juanito and Panchita Ruiz. The barrio also became home to San Mateo Mission
of St. Patricks Cathedral and Pulidos Restaurant. El TP scarcely exists anymore, a
victim of the construction of Interstate 30 and the Vickery-Rosedale connection.
THE SOUTH SIDE
South Fort Worth seemed to grow faster than any other part of the city, partly
because the Trinity River formed a geographic barrier to the north. In addition, by
the early years of the twentieth century it was apparent that the stockyards and
slaughterhouses that dominated North Fort Worth generated an offensive odor.
Living either south or west of this area meant being upwind from the unpleasant
smell; but even then, there were times when the foul odor permeated the entire
27
city. Just as the North Side was born out of the meatpacking plants, the South
Side quickly developed after the establishment of the Texas Rolling Mills in 1908.
Texas Rolling Mills became Texas Steel and was called La Fundicin, the foundry.
Figure 1-6 FORT WORTH CITY DIRECTORY, 1928
Herrera, Pedro (Irene) lab T&P Ry r. 3310 Locke

Vallejo, Herminio (Santos) lab T&P Ry r. 3304 Locke
Gonzles, Balliano (Sista) r. 3508 Rutledge
Vallejo, Ovano (Loretta) lab T&P Ry r. 3508 Rutledge
Vsquez, Jos (Carmen) r. 3511 Rutledge
Rodrguez, Elena r. 3513 Rutledge
The defining boundaries of barrio La Fundicin in the early part of the twentieth
century were Hemphill Street on the west, Grove Street on the east, West Ripy
Street on the north, and Bolt Street on the south. Most Mexicans who lived here
worked for the steel company or for a few small foundries.
The city directory for 1910 lists five Mexicanos who worked for the plant in
La Fundicin: F. Fernndez, Amado G. Gonzales, Dominico Martnez, Louis
Martnez, and David Rodrguez. No addresses are indicated, as they probably
lived in company housing conveniently located adjacent to the plant itself, by
28
Butler and Fogg streets and Alice Street and Bryan Avenue.
GROWING PREJUDICE
As Mexicans came pouring into Fort Worth eager to fill jobs offered by the
expanding industries, attitudes of Fort Worths Anglo population hardened.
Mexicans encountered deed restrictions that prohibited their living in certain
areas of town. Editorials in the newspapers, if they mentioned Hispanics at all,
depicted them in a most indefensible manner. The Fort Worth Record extensively
covered the situation in Mexico during the revolution. When the Fighting
Ninth Army infantry unit passed through Cowtown by rail on their way to the
29
border to fight, an article in the Fort Worth Record quoted one young man eager
30
to join the army, Gee, I would like to get a chance at those `Greesers.[sic]
In 1935 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass
the Works Progress Administration bill creating thousands of jobs to lessen the
effects of the Great Depression. The bill also established jobs for historians,
artists, and writers. Writers and historians in Fort Worth, under the auspices of
the Fort Worth Federal Writers Project, documented noteworthy events in
Cowtowns development between 1880 and 1940. In gathering material for this
project writers primarily relied on reprinted articles from the Fort Worth City Guide
and local newspapers such as the Fort Worth Record, the Fort Worth Press, and the
Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The articles provide an interesting perspective on Fort
Worths attitudes towards Mexicanos at the time and are extremely important in
helping to understand the experience of a minority ethnic group during those
early years. Another article in the Fort Worth Record reported alleged atrocities and
barbarous behavior on the part of Mexican nationals.
Many stories, more or less doubted, are received from the

Mexican border, telling of the cruelties practiced by both the federals
and constitutionalists in Mexico, but there is one story which the
people of Fort Worth are bound to believe, for some of the parties
concerned, a band of Syrians, are here in person to vouch for the
atrocities that were practiced upon them near [Ciudad] Jurez, by a
band of constitutionalist soldiers.
These Syrians passed through Fort Worth Saturday on their way
east from Mexico, and, in the offices of a Fort Worth lawyer they were
induced to relate their story. They told graphically of tortures almost
unbelievable, and even produced scars where they had been scarred
with red-hot brands. As they mentally reviewed the tortures they had
endured so recently the Syrians became almost frantic, and were so
earnest and vivid in their descriptions that no one can, for the
moment, doubt the truth of the statements, according to the attorneys.
The Syrians say that they fell into the hands of a half-savage
band of Mexican bandits, dignified by the name Constitutionalist.
After the bandits had tortured their victims to their hearts content
and had their fill of barbarous fun, they allowed the Syrians to depart
31
with their lives.
Regardless of whether or not the above story was true, cruelties, atroci-
ties, tortures almost unbelievable, a half-savage band of Mexican bandits, and
barbarous fun were all vivid descriptions reflecting prevailing public opinion.
Related in this pseudo-factual way, stereotypes became easy to accept,
as the negative image of Mexicans seemed to be reinforced by the long-running
32
historical perspective, where memories of the Black Legend, the Alamo and
Goliad, and Mexican banditry in general had shaped the attitudes of generations
of Anglo-Texans.
Chapter 2
S TORIES FROM
THE B ARRIOS
The lives of Mexican immigrants changed irrevocably upon entering the United
States. Accustomed to hardship and scratching out a living, these new Americans
began their new lives using the agricultural skills they brought with them. Most
of the men who appear in this book worked as laborers in the cattle industry or
for the railroads. Most of the women were employed as cooks or domestic ser-
vants. Isolated by culture and language, the new residents naturally clung togeth-
er, and the communities they developed slowly began to impart a
distinctly Mexican flavor to Fort Worth.
Riley Gonzales, one of the earliest permanent Mexican residents of Fort
Worth, is representative of immigrants who were resilient, adaptable, and deter-
mined to provide for their families. Born somewhere in Mexico in January 1851,
he emigrated to the United States (perhaps to Fort Worth) in 1880 at the age of
twenty-nine.1 Around the same time, he married Sarah, an Anglo who had been
born in Tennessee in February 1849. The marriage produced one son, Thomas
E., born in May of 1886, possibly at the family home at the corner of Elizabeth
and Arizona streets in Fort Worth.2 From the early 1880s, Gonzales worked for
the original stockyards and lived in and around the area where I-30 and I-35 now
intersect. In 1916, the sixty-five-year-old Gonzales lived with his thirty-year-old
son in North Fort Worth at 2600 Ross Avenue, just west of the new stockyards
where both worked.3 After 1920 Riley Gonzales lived at 2520 Clinton Avenue,
and in 1925, at the age of seventy-three, he became a machinists helper at the
Texas & Pacific Railroad. Son Thomas is not listed in the city directory after
1922, and no other records are found until his obituary notice on Saturday,
March 29, 1930.4 In 1928 Riley Gonzales, now seventy-seven years old, worked
for the Transcontinental Oil Company and lived on Denton Road.5 He died in
the City and County Hospital on October 30, 1928. His death certificate notes
the cause of death as cardiac decompen[sation] after having been attended
since October 23 by a Dr. Goldier. The document names him as Raleigh L.
Gonzalez and describes him as a widower, aged seventy-nine (date of birth
unknown), and gives his occupation, as laborer. The elderly Mexicano died
after nearly five decades of working in Fort Worth. Riley Gonzales can be con-
sidered a symbol of the citys earliest Mexican immigrantsa people who helped
build the modern city and whose history has to be reconstructed from city direc-
tories and census data.
Secundino and Tomasa Muoz Martnez illustrate the effects of the Mexican
Revolution on families. Born on July 1, 1874, at Villa Hidalgo, San Luis Potos,
Secundino Martnez worked en la labor (as an agricultural worker). In 1897 he
married a fellow villager, Tomasa Muoz, in the Catholic church of their small
ranching community. The family grew with the birth of two daughters, Eufemia
in 1898 and Simona in 1908. Normal life, however, was suddenly disrupted by the
Mexican Revolution. Brother-in-law Gregorio Prez sent money to enable
Martnez to flee the violence spreading across la tierra in 1910, and he set out for
Fort Worth determined to seek a better life.6
Upon his arrival, Martnez stayed with his brother-in-law, who found him a
job at Texas Steel Company, where he worked from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. six days
a week. After two years, he had saved enough money to bring his family to Fort
Worth. Together with their wives and children, all of Martnezs brothers soon left
Mexico and settled in Fort Worth .7
Salvador C. Gonzalez, Sr., was born to farming parents in September 1880,

on a ranchito near Encarnacin in the state of Jalisco. He served in the Mexican
army for one year1914. He then decided to leave the disorder in Mexico to
make his way to Seguin, Texas, to pick cotton.8 Beatriz Castorena was born in
Stories 21
Aguascalientes, where her father was a doctor. The family fled Mexico because
of the revolution, settling near San Marcos, Texas. It is possible that Salvador and
Beatriz knew each other in Mexico and kept in contact during and after their
separate moves to Texas. They eventually married in Round Rock, Texas, around
1917. Their first daughter, Elvira, was born in Seguin in 1918 but died within six
months. The family stayed in that area for about two years, then moved in 1920
to Fort Worth, where Salvador worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad on a crew
maintaining and replacing rails and ties. They lived in a rental house at 504 Leota
Street, a house that would become a kind of touchstone for the family. A second
daughter, also named Elvira, was born in that house during the first year. She did
not survive to adulthood but died at age fifteen of pneumonia. The third child,
Salvador C. Gonzalez, Jr., was born on June 22, 1922, at the Leota Street house,
with Ramona Vega, the wife of Southern Pacific co-worker and friend, Luz Vega,
performing the duties of midwife.9
In 1923, for reasons that are not clear, the family, including Beatrizs brother,
Leopoldo Castorena, all moved to St. Louis, Missouri, to work on a ranch. In
1924, however they all returned to Mexico. The elder Salvador was never able to
adjust to life in the United States and always longed to return to Mexico. With
money earned in the U.S., he was able to fulfill part of his dreamto buy a home
and start a small business. The fourth child, Eleodoro, was born at the ranchito
near Encarnacin on April 13, 1924. As an adult, Eleodoro worked as a kitchen-
and-bath tile contractor and later at a minimum-security federal prison on the
South Side of Fort Worth.10
As a symptom of his discontent, Salvador, Sr., drank and gambled heavi-
ly; when drunk, he tended to be violent to his family. In the same year that
Eleodoro was born (1924), Senior gambled away the little home he had just
bought. And so, in late 1924, out of money, out of luck, and out of a job,
Salvador, Sr., dragged his family back to Fort Worth. They lived in the same
rented house as beforeat 504 Leota Streetin an area that had been known
since the turn of the century as the Rock Island neighborhood. Once again he
worked hard eight-hour days for the Southern Pacific Railroad, replacing old
rails and ties. His work crew consisted of about twelve Mexicanos; the crew boss
was an Anglo.11
The fifth child, Aurora, was born in Fort Worth in 1926. She later married
Juan Snchez, had seven children, and died of cancer around 1985.12 Child num-
ber six, Oralia, born in 1928, later married Raul Pacheco and had seven children.
The seventh child born to Salvador and Beatriz, a boy, died at birth (which might
have been premature) around 1930. Their eighth and last child, Alvaro, was born
in 1934. He later married Juana Muoz and had two daughters.13
Salvador C. Gonzalez, Jr., went to Alexander Hall Elementary School, where
the total enrollment included only three other MexicansSalvadors brother,
Eleodoro, and friends Augustn Vargas and Augustns brotherduring the six
years (1930-1936) that Junior attended. In 1936 Salvador attended Jennings
Junior High School for six monthslong enough to convince him that he wasnt
learning anything he didnt already know. Realizing that his son indeed could
read, write, and count, his father permitted him to drop out of school. The boy
worked a newspaper route for the Fort Worth Press in the Hemphill and Vickery
neighborhood until 1937, then worked as a dishwasher at the Fort Worth Club.
Salvador worked from ten to twenty hours a day, seven days a week, for forty
dollars per month. No matter how many hours he worked, every two weeks he
was paid $19.75, with twenty-five cents deducted for Social Security. Still, he
held the job until 1941. Next, he worked as a fry cook for the Texas Hotel, a job
that lasted from 1942 to 1945 and again from 1946 until 1948.14
On October 12, 1941, Salvador, Jr., married Mara Snchez.15 The two fam-
ilies were closely linked: Maras brother, Juan, was married to Juniors sister,
Aurora, and one of Maras sisters was married to Juniors brother, Eleodoro.
When Senior and the family moved to a rental home on the corner of Calhoun
and Anne, Salvador and Mara lived with them there for two months, then rented
a room from Hermenejildo Martnez, a successful concrete contractor who lived
at 401 Third Street (on the corner of Pecan Street). Hermenejildo and his wife,
Sabina, were gracious people who had a two-story house with indoor plumbing;
it was one of the finest homes owned by a Hispanic in Fort Worth. Only a few
other Hispanics lived in this area of Third Street.16
In 1945, Salvador Gonzalez, Jr., reported to Parris Island, South Carolina, for
Marine boot camp. From there he went to Camp Pendleton in Oceanside,
California, and then to Pearl Harbor, Guam, and China. He was honorably dis-
Stories 23
(April 1972) Born in 1889 in

Austin, cement contractor
Hermenejildo R. Martnez
was the first Mexican
American in Fort Worth who
owned a home of substance
that featured the luxury of
indoor plumbing. Photo
courtesy of Sam Picazo.
charged from the Marines in 1946 after the end of World War II with about
eighteen months service. He returned to Fort Worth to his former job at the
Texas Hotel.
Reunited after the war, Salvador and Mara rented a three-room house from
her mother at 415 Pecan Street, where they lived for about three years. This was
one of the shotgun homes that were common at that time, so called because all
the rooms were laid out in a straight line. Later Mrs. Snchez bought a house at
1015 East Bluff Street and rented it to the couple for about one year.17
The Gonzalez family experienced Fort Worths prejudice in a most visible,
hurtful way. In 1947, desperately wanting to own their own home, Salvador and
Mara Gonzalez put down their lifes savings of $2,000 in savings bonds to buy
a house in an all-Anglo neighborhood at 514 Wall Street, next to the Santa Fe
24
railroad tracks. Matis Real Estate Company financed the $1,000 balance. As soon
as word spread that a Mexican couple was moving into the neighborhood,
almost all the houses sprouted For Sale signs. The Anglos wanted to move
away as quickly as possible; they must have said to themselves, well, there goes
the neighborhood. By 1952 three other Mexican families were living on Wall
Street. These included Toms and Mary Yaez, 500 Wall Street, a laborer with the
Texas & Pacific Railroad; Fernando and Dominga Guajardo, 508 Wall Street,
employed at CVAC; and Juan and Aurora Snchez (Salvadors brother-in-law and
sister), 518 Wall Street, employed as an assistant purchasing agent with the Texas
Hotel, according to the 1952 Fort Worth City Directory.
In 1948 the Texas Hotel brought in a new kitchen manager with whom
Salvador had some trouble. He quit and went to work for Armour and Company,
where he was often laid off and finally left when he injured his knee-cap. Next he
found employment with the Mathis Company, 1200 block of East Broadway
Street, which manufactured furniture, fans, air coolers, and air conditioners. He
18
worked here for nine years until 1957.
When Salvador left the Mathis Company his wife, Mara, went to work for
them, first in the finishing room and later working on air conditioners. The place
proved rough for a woman, especially a Mexicana, and Mara endured frequent
verbal abuse. Because of such abuse she often would come home shaken and
crying. To this day she maintains a serenity and sweet spirit that through all the
years of uphill struggles has made her a successful and resilient survivor.
After quitting his job at the Mathis Company in 1957 Gonzalez went to
work for the post office. He worked out of Handley for two years and then was
given a route in the Meadowbrook area. On March 1, 1989, Gonzalez retired at
the age of sixty-six, after having worked for the postal service for thirty-two
19
years.
He and his wife live quietly, enjoying retirement and their extensive family
at the same home he bought in 1947.20 Together they have improved and added
to their home over the years. It is a beautiful home with a large well-kept yard, and
their pride of ownership is quite evident. Mara and Salvador have seen the neigh-
borhood change over the years since 1947, with many other minorities moving.
They have noticed that Anglos, too, are starting to move back, although they are
Stories 25
Anglos of more humble means. The Gonzalezes, with a keen sense of humor, now
21
say to themselves, well, there goes the neighborhood!
One of the earliest residents of the North Side, Pascacio (Pete) Martnez
was born on August 4, 1886, near Monterrey, Nuevo Len, Mexico. He quit
school at an early age in order to work on a hacienda, where he learned to raise
livestock and to break and ride horses. Petes parents disowned him when he
ignored their objections to his marrying a woman outside his class. Undaunted,
twenty-two-years old, disinherited, Pete Martnez left Mexico in 1908 in order to
Pascacio (Pete) Martnez and his fami-
marry Elena Ocampo. Born on November 22, 1895, Elena was only thirteen when ly. Second row, l. to r.: Elvira M. Garza;
Richard; Helen M. Rodrguez; Johnny
she married Pete and fled to a new life north of the Rio Grande. The couple (in uniform); Pete, Jr.; Mary M. Garza;
Gloria M. Cardona. First row, l. to r.:
arrived in Fort Worth in 1908, and Pete eventually supported his family by Robert; Isabel M. Delgado; Pete, Sr.;
Elena Ocampo Martnez; Mike; Yvonne
22
working for the railroad, a job he held from 1910 to 1930. (Kiki) Cisneros. Photo courtesy of Yvonne
(Kiki) Martnez Cisneros and Mary M.
Garza.
The Martnez familys earliest recollections of their first home was its
proximity to Marine Creek on the North Side. After he began working at the
Armour meat-packing plant, Pete purchased their lifelong residence at 1419
23
North Calhoun, an address that was home to the couple and their six sons
Mike, Pete, Jr., Jimmy, Sonny, Johnny, and Bobbyand seven daughtersIsabel,
Julita, Helen, Elvira, Mary, Gloria, and Yvonne (Kiki).24 With rosebushes grow-
ing along the large front porch and main entrance, the well-kept, white, one-story
home contained seven rooms, not including two bathrooms that had running
watera feature not found in most North Side Mexicano homes at the time. The
home was equipped with the latest amenities, including a telephone, an electric
refrigerator, and other appliances. A shiny new Chevrolet automobile stood out
front. The backyard was home to a menagerie of animals that included two milk
cows, several chickens, and the prize rabbits that Pete loved to raise and sell as a
25
hobby.
In 1930, after having worked for the railroad for twenty years, Pete Martnez
found a better-paying job at Armour and Company. Honest, dedicated, and hard-
working, Pete caught the attention of his supervisors when they discovered he
had a natural ability with a boning knife. His youthful experience with livestock
helped Martnez land the prized position of beef-boner at Armoura position
he held for another twenty years until the day he passed away. During the Great
Depression, while the most menial jobs at the meat packing plant paid between
twenty-five and thirty-five cents an hour, the highly-skilled beef-boner earned
between $1.25 to $1.50 per hour. Martnezs expert handling of a sharpened knife
together with his position as chief steward of the CIO union won him a legendary
26
reputation at Armours.
Eutimio Ayala was born December 24, 1896, at Quelseo de Abasolo,

Guanajuato (west of Salamanca). Eutimio took care of la raya (payroll records) for
a hacienda. In 1916, in either Salamanca or Irapuato, he married Mara Gutirrez
Ortiz, who had been born near Salamanca on June 17, 1901. She worked on the
Rancho de Doa Rosa. The young couple moved to Yucatn seeking work but
found the area unbearably hot. Their next home, in 1918, was Detroit, Michigan,
Stories 27
where Eutimio worked for the Willis Overland Company. After a few years of
working at the firms steel foundry, which made car frames, they moved to Toledo,
Ohio. There Eutimio worked for either a railroad or a steel foundry, and three of
their fourteen children were born. Four or five years later they moved to Decatur,
Indiana, where both worked in the beet and tomato fields. In 1933 the family
relocated to Fort Worth, where they lived at 1313 North Grove Street. Eutimio
took a job with Swift and Company in the dry salt department until a heart attack
forced his early retirement in 1952. He died one year later on August 5, 1953.27
Margarito Rodrguez Padilla was born on February 22, 1903, at Villa

Hidalgo, San Luis Potos, not long after his family left Mexico. Again the cause
was the Mexican Revolution. Although his maternal grandmother, Regina
Mascorro Rodrguez, insisted on the gracious manners that reflected the
Victorian Age, she was tough and resourceful enough to risk fleeing the revolu-
tion strapped on top of a speeding train.
Born in 1850 in the Hacienda de Silos near San Luis Potos, Mama Regina
decided early on that her family would not tolerate the escalating danger posed
by marauding soldiers. With her children (including her daughter, Margaritos
mother, Ruperta Mascorro Rodrguez; her son-in-law, Margaritos father,
Marcelino Padilla; at least seven grandchildren; and eleven other relatives), she
attempted to board a train headed for the border. The train was so packed with
refugees that the only space available was on the roof of the cars. Mama Regina
and the others strapped themselves down with ropes to keep from falling off. In
this manner, the family rode the entire trip, looking forward to a safe and stable
life in Texas.28 The family eventually found their way to Fort Worth. As Mama
Reginas great-granddaughter, Hope Padilla Ayala, recounts this story, she
reflects on the grit and determination that ensured her familys survival and
thinks she has a lot to live up to.
Catalina Tobas Loredo was born on February 22, 1898, in Hacienda de

Silos, San Luis Potos, to Macario Loredo and Angela Tobas. Macario and Angela
had six children: Dionicia (Quintanilla), Ins (Gamboa), Francisco, Catalina,

Julio, and Lina. On the hacienda Macario supervised a crew of field hands that
cultivated maguey plants as well as a variety of vegetables. As a young girl,
Catalina took care of the haciendas owners, two elderly unmarried sisters. They
had no heirs, and the sisters promised Catalina that she would inherit their
estate. But then the Mexican Revolution began.29
Frequent raiding by opposing factions made life on the hacienda precarious.
A lookout perched on a tower overlooking the property warned residents when
soldiers were approaching. A secret chamber underneath the main house provided
a hiding place for the women on these occasions. In one of these encounters,
soldiers hanged Macario Loredo and left him for dead. After the soldiers left, the
women cut down his body only to discover that he was still alive. He died shortly
thereafter, however, and, fearing for their lives, his widow, Angela, prepared to take
her youngest children, Catalina and Julio, to the safety of the United States.
Catalina did not want to leave her inheritance behind and begged to stay in
Mexico, but her mother would not hear of it. The three traveled by train to the
border in search of Francisco, the oldest son, who had already emigrated to the
U.S. Catalina was sixteen when she crossed the border at Laredo in 1914.30
The family settled in San Marcos, Texas, and worked in the fields. In an odd
reprise of her situation in Mexico, two elderly and wealthy German sisters hired
Catalina to take care of them. They taught her how to prepare and cook American
foods. Becoming familiar with the cuisine, Catalina later served American-style
food to her own family, along with more traditional Mexicano-style cooking.31 For
ten years, until her wedding day, she faithfully served the sisters. On January 15,
1925, in San Marcos, Catalina married Telsforo Cancino, whose family had lived
in Texas for generations. His parents, Romn Rodrguez and Refugio Cancino,
had nine children: Juan, Tefilo (Ted), Telsforo (Tele), Roberto (Robe),
Bartolo (Chico), Aniceto (Cheto), Rosa, Josefa, and Santos.32
After their marriage, Telsforo and Catalina lived and worked on an Anglo-
owned farm, where he developed a warm relationship with the owners. They even
nursed him back to health when he had pneumonia. Telsforo continued to work
at the farm until early 1926, when he and Catalina moved to Mexia to work for
the Santa Fe Railroad.33
Stories 29
Telsforo worked for the railroad for two years before moving to Fort
Worth, where Catalinas family had settled.34 In 1929 they lived with Catalinas
mother at 1408 North Commerce Street. Cancino worked as a woodcutter, clear-
ing fields near Fort Worth. In 1930 they lived briefly on Bernal Drive in Dallas
before returning to Fort Worth. Telsforo worked for Swift and Company, curing
hides and, later, loading meat onto railroad cars. Telsforo died before Catalina,
but there are no records of his death. Catalina celebrated her one-hundredth
birthday in 1998.35
A farmer who tended his milpa and raised hogs, Romn Prez Mercado was
born on August 9, 1901, in the village of Manalisco, Jalisco. The woman he would
eventually marry, Atilana Soto, was born on October 5, 1897, in Yahualca,
Jalisco.36 Around 1920 Prez Mercado left his wife in Yahualca to come to the
United States. Although he first found employment in Oregon and Washington,
he made his way south working for the Rock Island Railroad, spending some time
in Nebraska. Mercado periodically visited his wife in Mexico, as did many other
Mexicanos working in the U.S. His road crew worked around Sherman and
Denison and arrived in Fort Worth in 1926. Still in Mexico, Atilana experienced
great difficulty getting her two baby daughters baptized due to the deterioration
of relations between church and state that became known as the Cristero
Rebellion (1926-1929). Catholic churches in the state of Jalisco, and in many
other areas of Mexico, closed to protest government policies against the church.
Atilana and children made it safely out of Mexico and to Fort Worth that same
year (1926). Seven more children were born to the couple in Fort Worth.37
While some Mexicanos encountered prejudice from Anglos, Sammy

Pantoja, an early resident of barrio La Corte, on the other hand, experienced kind-
ness. As a young boy in the 1920s Sammy loved to dart around exploring the dirt
streets and back alleys of his barrio and of the intriguing world beyond. Hed go
by the Mexican Presbyterian Church, where the dynamic pastor, Guillermo A.
Walls, gladly gave him clothes and shoes, affectionately calling him Chapo
because of the boys Japanese looks. Sammy often ventured out of his barrio,
toward the downtown district. The area around the farmers market was particu-
larly interesting because he could easily help himself to discarded fruit from the
many trash cans in the vicinity. Farther on, between Fourth and Fifth and
Throckmorton and Houston streets, there was an alley known as el callejn de las
lminas (the alley with the tin gates). One winter day at the age of seven Sammy
wandered into the alley to see what he could scavenge. A passing Anglo couple
noticed the boy standing barefoot in snow. Taking him by the hand, they marched
him to Monnigs department store and bought young Sammy a new wardrobe,
38
including a coat and shoes.
Over the years Sammy Pantoja worked for a variety of restaurants such as
the Mexican Inn (1940s), El Chicos (1951-1954), and Harrys Steakhouse
(1954-1966), before starting his own business. He established the first Sammys
Restaurant at the corner of Northwest 36th and Ellis streets, immediately south
of Meacham Field in the barrio known as La Loma. In 1971 he moved the restau-
39
rant to 300 West Central Avenue in the extended North Side. Sammys
Restaurant was one of the few places in Fort Worth that stayed open until 2:00
A.M. To both Anglos and Hispanics it was the place to go for late night break-
fast, until it closed in the late 1990s.
Few people can top the genuine good-heartedness of Mexican immigrant

Benito Cardona, Jr. Born in 1898 in Torren, Coahuila, Mexico, to Benito
Cardona, Sr., and Manuela Garza, Benito had six siblings: Manuel, Cuauctemoc,
Elias, Ester, Raquel, and Aida.40 Owner of La india bakery in Fort Worth,41 Benito,
Jr., was an expert horseman who also raised horses and burros, rented supply
wagons, and operated a stagecoach line.42
After Mexico suspended payment on its foreign debt, the French army took
over Mexico City, Benito, Sr.s, father, Bonifacio Cardona de la Bastida, was an
officer in the French army of occupation (1862-1867).43 In the course of his tour
of duty, Cardona fell in love and married Felipa Muoz, a Mexican woman from
San Luis Potos. Now with dual allegiances, it no longer made sense to him to
challenge Mexicos democratically elected president, Benito Jurez. The story
Stories 31
Benito Cardona, Sr., named

in honor of Mexican
President Benito Jurez. A
French Army officer who
married a Mexicana and
refused thereafter to fight
against Mexico, Cardonas
father went in person to ask
the Mexican President for a
pardon. Bennie Cardona,
whose grandfather, Benito,
owned La india Bakery in
Torren, Mexico, continues
the family tradition. Photo
courtesy of Bennie Cardona.
goes that Cardona secured an audience with President Jurez to ask for pardon
for his role with the French army and to offer his services to the legitimate
government of Mexico. He even named his first-born son Benito in honor of
the president.44
Later, during the Mexican Revolution (1911-1917), Benito Cardona, Sr., was
elected to the post of alcalde (mayor) of Torren. He became known as el rebelde
(the rebel) as he became increasingly disenchanted with the policies of Mexican
president Victoriano Huerta.45 In 1913, one of his sons was wounded and taken
prisonerhe was poisoned in prison and died. Benito, Sr., fled Torren, accused
of being a traitor. After a time he thought he could return to re-establish his good
reputation. On his way to Torren, Cardonas train suddenly came to a halt at
Pedricea, and federales forced him and nine others off the car and executed them
alongside the tracks.46
His son, fifteen-year-old Benito Cardona, Jr., who learned the bakery busi-
ness from his father, had been studying violin for two years at a conservatory of
music when news came of his fathers death. He immediately returned home to
his terrified mother, Manuela, and the family made preparations to leave Mexico
with a few of their possessions in one of his fathers wagons. With his mother,
sister, Aida, and brother, Manuel, on board, Benito drove the wagon for three
days until they reached Laredo. They stayed two years at the home of sister Ester
(Cardona) and her husband, Pasqual Ruiz, who now lived in the border town
and owned a hide shop.47
Around 1916 Benito and his family came to Fort Worths North Side to visit
Raquel Cardona and her husband, Santos Mireles.48 During his eight-year stay in
Fort Worth Benito met Cndida Martnez, a recent immigrant herself. Her parents
and brothers, who had owned a tobacco plantation in Cuba, were killed during
the Spanish-American War (1898).49 With her surviving sisters, Cndida traveled
to New York City and then to New Orleans in search of a religious education.
They finally came to Fort Worth, where she worked towards a degree in theology
from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Cndida met Benito at the
Mexican Baptist church and married him there in 1923. Over the next six years
the couple alternated between living in Fort Worth and Dallas as Cndida minis-
tered in various Mexican Baptist missions. In Dallas Benito and Cndida lived
in the barrio known as Little Mexico50 and, while there, had their two sons,
Moises and Benito.51
After that Benito Cardona and his family moved frequently all over Texas
Laredo, Del Rio, Harlingen, Dilly, Pearsall, and Divine. Wherever there was a mar-
ket for his baked goods, Benito set up shop and quickly established a bakery with
the help of other Mexicanos. Using traditional adobe building methods, Benito
and his friends could erect an oven in a matter of a few weeks. In a typical situa-
tion, the crew dug a hole, added water, and mixed the resulting mud with straw
from a nearby field. Then they poured the straw-mixed mud into molds made from
discarded lumber. After the adobe bricks hardened, they were removed from their
molds and allowed to dry in the hot South Texas sun for about a week. Benito and
his crew then built an igloo-shaped baking oven on an eight-foot square platform
made of railroad ties. A highly resourceful and inventive man, Benito built the
Stories 33
Moises Cardona graduated

in 1941 from R.L. Pascal
High School. Photo courtesy
of Moises Cardona.
oven against one of the walls of his home for additional warmth. An opening in
the wall allowed for direct access to the oven from within his home. To get water
to the bakery, Cardona relied on a long spigot connected to a large barrel filled
with water. (The crew had to roll the barrel up a ramp to get access to the water.)
Thus, within days, the hard-working Benito was open for business.52
The family finally settled in Fort Worth in the 1930s, and opened a bakery
named after the elder Cardonas shop in Mexico, La india. Yet Bennie never forgot
his desire to be a musician. He continued practicing the violin, and, in the late
1930s, a grant from the Works Progress Administration sustained Cardonas posi-
tion as first violinist with the Fort Worth Symphony. In the evenings, he gave
music lessons to groups of North Side children. His sons, Moises and Bennie,
both learned to play musical instruments and were excellent musicians.53
(1975) Bennie Cardona

(Benito Cardona, III) at his
bakery at 1344 N. Main
Street (at Central). Cardona
is married to Gloria,
daughter of Pascacio (Pete)
Martnez. Photo courtesy of
Benito was not only a successful baker who made a wide variety of quality
pan dulce and pastries, he was also a good and conscientious neighbor. When his
friend and bakery competitor Gregorio Esparza, Sr., left for Mexico to see his ail-
ing mother, Benito helped run his bakery. For about six months Cardona baked
pan dulce and took care of Gregorios meat business. Esparza returned after his
mother passed away, grateful for his friends help.
Benito Cardona, Jr., was known throughout the North Side as a generous
neighborhungry people who came to his shop received milk and a meal. When
there was death in the barrio, he always took a large box of pan dulce to the home
of the grieving family. When Benito Cardona, Jr., passed away in 1981, people
from far and near agreed that they had lost a good friend.54
Chapter 3
M AKING
A L IVING
From the 1880s on, the magnet that drew thousands of Mexicanos to Fort Worth
was the ever-increasing number and variety of jobs the city offered. As Fort
Worth gradually grew more sophisticated, new job opportunities developed,
from slaughtering cattle and laboring on the railroads to service-oriented jobs
such as waiting tables or tailoring. Although Hispanics slowly began their own
businesses, from the 1880s to the first decade of the twentieth century, the main
sources of employment for newly arrived men remained the railroads and meat-
packing plants.
A careful examination of the first series of city directories (1883-1910)
provides an understanding of the labor trends in the earliest barrios. Certainly
Hells Half Acre and the original stockyards (districts that were the first areas of
residence for Fort Worths newest minority group) provided newly arriving
Mexicanos with a number of employment opportunitiestending livestock,
working for the railroads, selling prepared foods, dishwashing, and other domes-
tic labor. Newspaper articles during the 1920s referred to this area as Little
1
Mexico, for the continuous influx of Mexicanos and Mexicanas. Not to be
confused with North Calhoun Street, created in North Fort Worth after the turn
of the century, lower Calhoun became the commercial center of Little Mexico
2
with its barbershops, corner groceries, chile stands, and bars. This first geo-
graphic core neighborhood shifted a few blocks south and became popularly
known as La Diecisiete.
TYPICAL JOBS
Figure 3-1 illustrates emerging demographic trends: the clustering of

Mexicanos around Hells Half Acre and working in low-paying, menial jobs
such as stockyard and railroad laborers or service-oriented work such as waiters
and dishwashers. Dishwasher Epifanio Lpez, waiter Charles Morales, and waiter
Flix Rodrguez all worked for downtown hotels located in and around Hells
Half Acre, and the listing for Riley Gonzales shows a double occupationthe
railroad and the stockyards.
Individuals arriving with marketable skills such as tailoring could find steady
work at a number of haberdasheries and, as in the case of Joseph A. Leal, could
set up their own shops within a few years. Good cooking and some restaurant
experience could also lead to a measure of independence, as Antonio Estrada
demonstrated by opening his own eating establishment.
According to the 1890 city directory (See Figure 3-2), Riley Gonzales no
longer worked for the stockyards but was a wiper at the Texas & Pacific round-
3
house. Jess Lpes, address unlisted, worked as a Pullman Palace car cleaner, also
at the Texas & Pacific roundhouse. J. L. and J. W. Mrquez are both listed as laborers
who lived near the railroad tracks on the north side of a graveyardpossibly the
old Pioneers Rest Cemetery, about half a mile northeast of the courthouse.
Evidence of the increasing numbers of jobs provided by the different rail lines con-
verging on Fort Worth, the railroads listed in the 1892-1893 city directory include:
The Fort Worth and Denver Railway; the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway; the
Esquivel, Pianio tamale peddler r. ws Rusk bt 11th/12th

Estrada, Antonio lunch stand 303 Main r. 900 Houston
Gonzles, Riley wks T&P Ry Stockyards r. ne cor Terry/20th
Leal, Joseph A. tailor r. se cor
Throckmorton/W.13th
Lpez, Epifanio dishwasher Ginocchios Hotel r. same
Marcas, Pablo r. ws Rusk bt E. 11th & 12th
Morales, Charles waiter Tremont Hotel r. same
Rodrguez, Felix waiter Ellis Hotel r. same
Rodrguez, Pedro tamale peddler r. ss 12th bt Rusk/Calhoun
Rubiolo, Francisco feed hay grain r.same
300 E Belknap & Calhoun
Making a Living 37
Figure 3-2 FORT WORTH CITY DIRECTORY, 1890
Crdenas, Miss E. chambermaid Pickwick Hotel

Espinosa, Louis wks FtW lime factory r. same
Estrada, Antonio restaurant 1513 Main
Gonzles, Riley wiper T&P roundhouse r. 705 S. Crump
Gonzles, W. wks stockyard r. 717 E. Front
Leal, J. A. tailor, shop & r. cor W. 1st r. cor W. 1st & Throckmorton
& Throckmorton
Lpes, Jesus Pullman Palace car cleaner,
T&P roundhouse
Mrquez, J.L. lab r. ns graveyard nr rr track
Mrquez, J.W. lab r. ns graveyard nr rr track
Vecerra, Joe lab
Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway; the Houston and Texas Central Railway; the
Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railway; and the Texas & Pacific Railway.
Mexicanos learned to take advantage of the skills acquired working for rail-
roads, stockyards, and in the service sector to secure better jobs. The 1892-1893
city directory lists Joseph A. Leal, along with Jess and Joseph Leal, in his tailor
shop at 311 W. 1st Street. Ten years later Joseph A. Leal was the first Mexicano to
4
have a telephone listing in Fort Worth (number 1076). Also listed as tailors were
5
Pablo Acosta, who worked for Dot Leetle French Man Charles Marcelin at 109
E. 3rd Street, and Joseph Ramrez, who worked for W. S. Matney at 212 E. 1st
Street (and lived with the Leals).
Educated Mexicanos began to find positions as well. The 1892-1893 direc-
tory lists the Reverend Juan G. Prez, who worked as a Spanish instructor at the
Polytechnic College. According to the 1894-1895 city directory, the Polytechnic
College of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was located on the south side
of the T&P Railway, two miles east of the city limits. The institutions name later
changed to Texas Wesleyan College and today is Texas Wesleyan University.
Other occupations continued to add to the variety of listings in the Fort
Worth city directories. The 1894-1895 directory listed Martn Aguilar, Antonio
Estrada, Rosalio Hernndez, Alejandro Losoya, and Louis Rodrguezeach either
6
owned a chile stand or peddled the spicy condiment on the streets. Joseph Cortz
operated his own barbershop at 1309 Main Street and was the first Hispanic
7
listed in the city directory under the heading of Barber Shops. Antonio H.
Valencia made his living as a photographer with C. O. Lorenz.
Notwithstanding those who possessed marketable skills such as leather-
crafting, hair cutting, or tailoring that would allow them to set up their own
businesses, Mexicanos frequently tried their hand at being restaurateurs.
Pioneers in this category began with Antonio Estrada, the first to have a lunch
stand,8 Juan Gonzales, and Severio Lpez. Lpez first appeared in the 1901-1902
9 10
city directory. It indicated that he had a chile stand at 305 Main Street and
11
resided at 109 North Taylor Street. Several years later, his listing in the 1904-
1905 city directory shows him to be the proprietor of the San Antonio
Restaurant, located at 114 Houston Street. He still had his chile stand at 305
Main Street and later moved to a new residence at 1113 Taylor Street. Severio
Lpez must be the first Mexicano restaurateur to intentionally market his
restaurant with a catchy name, designed to catch the publics attention. This
name-recognition strategy must have had a positive effect on business because
in 1904-1905 Lpez employed a waiter, Zeferino Lozano, and, in the next year,
12
added a cook, Juan Cruz.
Hispanics were a continuing presence in entertainment as well. Adolph
Gonzales, a comedian at the Andrews Theatre, and his wife, Lula, a musician at
the same establishment, lived at the northeast corner of East 12th and Jones
streets.
Following the city directories on a yearly basis reveals the transient nature of
the early Mexicano population in Fort Worth. Equally frustrating is the lack of
information on where Mexicanos relocated and for what reasons. How many of
these people returned to their native homeland or moved on to other Texas cities?
S T O C K YA R D S , R A I L R O A D S , A N D S E R V I C E
Mexicanos actively sought to better their situations, even if it meant moving or

changing their means of livelihood. Of the three tamale peddlers listed in the
1885-1886 directory, two left town (Aguilar and Delagarcia) and the third, Frank
Trevio, found work at the T&P rail yard. Antonio Estrada, listed as a saddle girth
maker in this directory, opened a lunch stand at 303 Main Street the
13
following year. Restaurant replaced the designation lunch stand in the
Making a Living 39
1890 city directory, apparently making Antonio Estradas eating establishment the
first owned by a Mexicano. We dont know if he served Mexican food or prepared
the usual Anglo fare; however, we do know that he moved his restaurant several
timesto 1513 Main Street in 1890, 1101 Main in 1892, and to the northwest
14
corner of East 12th and Rusk in 1896.
While Dahlman Brothers tailor Miguel Garca left town, Joseph Leal contin-
ued for one more year as a tailor with that firm. The 1888-1889 city directory (See
Figure 3-1) no longer lists Dahlman Brothers as Leals employer, and the 1890
directory (Figure 3-2) notes that Josephs shop and residence were on the corner of
West 1st and Throckmorton (just a block west of his old employer). By 1893 the city
boasted two more tailorsJess Leal and another, Joseph Leal, perhaps relatives of
15
Joseph A. Leal. These data clearly demonstrate a familiar pattern in the study of
immigrationa male establishes a beachhead in a new area, secures employment
and housing, and then summons relatives once work is readily available.
LABOR TRENDS
A 1917 article from the Fort Worth Record explores the extent to which Fort
Worth was a collection and shipping point for Mexican labor to other parts of the
country.
Demand on labor grows as many Mexicans move. Northern rush

of cheap workmen and literacy test will improve the working condi-
tions in Texas.
More than 2,000 Mexicans have been shipped from Fort Worth
to points in Pennsylvania and other northern cities within the last few
weeks, in the opinion of Immigration Inspector W. H. Robb.
By far the larger percentage of these Mexicans have gone to the
iron works in Pennsylvania, Robb said, where they are given an average
wage of $2.10 per day. On the railroads in that section they also receive
a wage of from $1.50 to $1.80 a day. Five hundred Mexicans were
shipped to the Pennsylvania iron sections at one time a few days ago, it
was announced.
In view of the fact that the literacy test to the immigration law
becomes effective on May 1, Robb is of the opinion that the extensive

immigration of common labor from this section to other sections of
the country will most probably result in a greater demand for white
labor on the railroads and the farms here, with a consequent increase
in wages. He points out that the average Mexican is satisfied at low
wages, and never kicks at paying exorbitant prices at the commissary
for his provisions. He predicts that this condition will not suit the
average white laborer and for this reason the railroads will be forced
to raise wages on the sections. The present average pay for section
hands amounts to only about $1.50 per day. A few years ago it was not
more that $1.20 on an average.
In the opinion of those who have made a close study of the situ-
ation at least 90 per cent of the immigration from Mexico and Italy will
be cut off after the literacy test becomes effective. Robb asserts that
these two nationalities furnish practically all the common labor used
by the railroads and when it is no longer available they will be forced
to raise prices and employ white labor.
He [Robb] predicts that the foreign born population of Fort
Worth will be perceptibly reduced in a short time after the literacy pro-
vision becomes operative. At this time, according to statistics gathered
by him, it amounts to about 12 per cent of the total population. He
points out that many of those of foreign birth are returning to their
native heath after having remained in this country for a few months
and after having made a small stake[.] This, coupled with the heavy
exportation of labor to the northern states, will cause an era of greater
prosperity and higher wages for the American working man, he
believes.16
This article offers a window to the past, providing a wealth of information

on such issues as availability of jobs, wages, job mobility, constraints facing
immigrants, as well as domestic attitudes regarding foreigners. The fact that so
many different rail lines converged upon this North Texas city gave it a huge
advantage as a collection point for cheap labor from all over the Southwest.
Making a Living 41
More than 2,000 Mexicans have been shipped . . . sounds as if they were deal-
ing in a commonly-traded commodity, rather than people. Perhaps anticipating
the inevitable increase in the demand for labor, the article appeared just two
weeks before President Woodrow Wilsons war message before Congress on
April 2, 1917.
When Immigration Inspector Robb stated that the average Mexican is sat-
isfied at low wages, and never kicks at paying exorbitant prices at the commissary
for his provisions, he was voicing a widely held perception of Mexican migrants
as malleable, compliant, and submissivehard workers who rarely complained.
Undoubtedly there were many who fit this description, perhaps because most had
experienced a life marked by even greater hardships in Mexico.
Yet not all Mexicanos were as compliant and submissive as the popular
stereotype. The following article demonstrates the willingness of Fort Worths
Mexican workers to risk losing their jobs to increase their pay and reduce the
number of hours worked per day. Although not wishing to cause trouble in an
alien land, Mexicanos nevertheless found it necessary at times to be more
17
assertive to protect their rights.
Approximately 100 pipe fitters and helpers walked out on strike

at the Home Oil and Refining Company plant Friday afternoon.
Higher wage scales were demanded by both classes. The present scale
of pipe fitters is $6 per day; they asked for $7. The scale of the helpers
is $4 per day and they asked for $5.
All Mexican labor at the plant also went out on strike, demand-
ing increased wages from the Hedrick Construction Company. The
Mexicans, now being paid 37 cents per hour and working nine hours
per day, demanded an eight-hour day at 45 cents per hour.18
In the years immediately following World War I, when millions of American

soldiers were returning from Europe, the demand for foreign labor dropped
markedly. As the economy slowed down and jobs became scarce, nativism and
xenophobia rose to high levels amidst an atmosphere charged with the resur-
gence of the Ku Klux Klan and widespread calls for immigration restrictions and
deportation of foreigners. Local concerns are reflected in the following article.
A telegram concerning the Mexican relief policy adopted by the

city of Fort Worth was sent to Alvaro Obregn, Pres. of Mexico, by
Mayor Cockrell Tuesday. The telegram was sent to Obregn, as it is
desired to keep in touch with Mexican authorities, hoping to speed up
deportation from Fort Worth.
A trainload of 250 Mexicans, men, women and children, is
expected to leave for Laredo tonight. Another trainload will probably
follow Wednesday. The Fort Worth Welfare Assn. received $1,300 from
the Mexican Government Tuesday. This [was] the sum the association
has spent in relief work among Mexicans here and was furnished by
the city. It will be returned to the municipal treasury.
The Mexicans who reported to Edwards Park Monday for the
work and eat program adopted by the Municipal authorities will be
more than doubled within two days. Robb stated that men will be
excluded from the bread line at Wesley House, the food distribution
center for the Mexican Relief work, after today. This act will cause
many of the men to go to work . . . .
Regulation army tents have been erected in the park as quarters
for the Mexicans. Many of them returned to their homes, Monday,
however, carrying their half loaves with them, along with the other
rations. American employees of the Park Department declare the
Mexicans are willing workers . . . .19
Racism has always been a major obstacle to the progress of any minority. A
Jim Crow mentality existed in many regions of the country before the Civil
Rights era of the 1960s and manifested itself through both blatant and subtle
policies of segregation and discrimination. Fort Worth was no exception. During
the 1930s, the Fort Worth city telephone book listed white and colored business
establishments separately. For example, all the white barbers are grouped together
under the heading Barbers; there was a separate heading for Colored Barbers.
While separate headings did not exist for Mexican businesses and Hispanics
were not barred from owning businesses, there did appear to be an unwritten
Making a Living 43
understanding as to the limits or boundaries within which those businesses could

be set up and operated. These widely understood geographic limitations dictated
that Hispanic businesses remain within the confines of the barrios. With the
exception of one popular Mexican restaurant on Camp Bowie Boulevard, all other
establishments observed the unwritten rule. In addition, Mexicans felt that they
were not to venture out of their barrios, unless they were working for an Anglo
employer, at the risk of bodily harm. North Side Mexicanos could not cross
North Main Street unless they were working, for otherwise Anglo gangs would
attack them.20
At the start of the roaring twenties, Fort Worth served Texas and the
Southwest as an extensive marketplace for Mexican labor. The following article
demonstrates the extent to which Mexicanos flocked to Cowtown in hope of
being employed somewhere in the United States.
A week ago there were around 3000 Mexicans awaiting jobs

down in Little Mexico. Now there are but 500.
These are the estimates of Juan Flores, who operates a prominent
Mexican labor bureau at 5th and Calhoun sts.
Theres been a dimunition [sic] because beet field labor demands
from Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska have gulped up hundreds of
the pens, who centered here from points all over Texas and Mexico.
But right now demands for the single menand its mostly they
who make up the pack thats marking timehas fallen off and the
demand for families perceptibly quickened, says Flores.
But it wont be long ere [sic] the available families will be exhausted
the agent predicts. Then the single men will have their chance.
However, many arent waiting for the Fort Worth bureaus to call them,
Flores said. Theyre moving on to Kansas City at their own expense.
Others have dismissed the beet field entirely and are waiting for
jobs when cotton chopping starts in Tarrant-co two weeks or so hence.
The influx hasnt stopped according to Flores. He estimates from
25 to 50 are pouring in each day.21
Juan Flores did not operate the only Hispanic employment service (5th and
Calhoun) in town during the 1920s. The demand for cheap, reliable labor neces-
sitated the presence of several employment agencies devoted solely to channeling
Mexican laborers into other regions of the country. Eduardo Aldrete had his
office at 215 East 14th Street, and Manuel Robles ran his agency from 210 East
22
12th Street.
Slowdowns in an economy, especially during an era of post-war readjust-
ments, typically provoke nativist sentiments. Anxiety about being overrun by foreign
groups soon surfaced, as seen in the following 1927 article from the Star-Telegram.
Federal probe of the reported wholesale influx of Mexicans into

Fort Worth began Thursday morning.
United States District Attorney Henry Zweifel, who is conduct-
ing the investigation, declared that Chief of Police Lee called on him
during the morning and asked for the probe of the asserted dumping
of Mexicans in Fort Worth.
In recent weeks, it has been charged, hundreds of pens have
been brought into this city. Zweifel said Lee told him many of the
Mexicans had entered this country without passports and that there
was an organized plan in operation of bringing the Mexicans into this
section on false pretenses that jobs awaited them . . . .23
A NEW INDUSTRY ARISES
In 1904 the South Side received a considerable boost with the establishment of
a new industrythe Bolt Works, a small nut-and-bolt manufacturing facility
located on Hemphill Street. That same year one of the charter investors bought
out the other stockholders and became sole owner of what grew into Texas
Rolling Mills. By 1905, George W. Armstrong purchased rolling-mill equipment,
24
making his company the first of its kind in the Southwest.
Initially the railroads were the biggest customers of Armstrongs Texas
Rolling Mills, but the advent of the automobile completely revolutionized the
entire transportation industry. The construction of streets, roads, and highways
demanded certain steel products, especially reinforcing bars. Armstrongs repeated
efforts to lobby the Texas State Highway Department for new business paid off,
Making a Living 45
and Texas Rolling Mills began selling reinforcing bars to the State of Texas for use
25
in highway construction.
With a marked increase in both domestic and foreign competition and the
subsequent fall in the demand for steel, the post-World War I era brought a si g-
ni f icant downturn in the volume of business, and Armstrong declared bankruptcy
in 1923. In the same year an old friend, Texas industrialist John H. Kirby, bought
Armstrongs properties in Fort Worth and Mississippi. Kirby then reorganized
Texas Rolling Mills as Texas Steel Company and made George W. Armstrong
manager of his former properties.
By the 1920s there were Mexicanos working for Texas Steel Company. Over
the years their numbers increased steadily, reflecting Armstrongs preference for
a steady and dependable work force. Mexicanos who worked for La Fundicin lived
in sixteen company houses located immediately across from the plant on Alice,
May, and Pafford streets. The company also built houses on Fogg Street that were
26
referred to as las casitas amarillas (the little yellow houses).
Since 1920, Armstrongs oldest son, Allen, had worked for the Mexican
Gulf Oil Company in Tampico, Mexico. At the end of the 1920s, Allen was
appointed secretary of the Association of Producers of Petroleum in Mexico, a
lobbying group representing the interests of American oil companies. In this
capacity, he became familiar with many facets of Mexicos economy and politics
and reported to his father on conditions there. Allen returned to Fort Worth
with his family to work at Texas Steel Company in 1937. His fluency in Spanish
was a real asset in dealing with an increasingly Mexican workforce. Another
son, George, Jr., remained closer to home, to help his father manage his
Mississippi holdings and other interests. George, Jr., assumed management of
27
Texas Steel Company in 1934.
The abundant volume of business generated by the World War II finally
made Texas Steel Company a profitable operation. From 1941 through 1945
Texas Steel was awarded contracts from the army and navy to manufacture mor-
tar shells. This tremendous surge in business provided the capital for expansion
for the next two decades, and in turn led to increases in the hiring of more per-
28
sonnel, especially Mexicanos.
Compared to conditions in Mexico, life in Fort Worth proved bearable in
spite of long hours, hard work, paltry wages, and substandard housing. While
a few people longed to return, most took comfort in the stability and opportu-
nity for employment available in their newly adopted country. A network of
relatives and friends beckoned many to come to Fort Worths various Hispanic
enclaves. The networks served to aid newly arrived kinfolk in securing jobs and
housing. Once individuals had established themselves as reliable employees,
no matter in what industries, Anglo supervisors often asked these workers if
they could recommend a friend or relative to fill open positions. Newly arrived
immigrants usually stayed with relatives or friends until they could support
themselves.
Resilience was the quality that allowed Mexicans in Fort Worth to persist
under the worst of conditions. As historian Arnoldo De Len observed:
To argue that the decade wrought disorientation and devastation

distorts history and does a disservice to a community that proved
resilient. As other people in other places and times have done, resi-
dents of the colonia took stock of adversity and kept going. . . . In the
1930s, indeed, a sizeable portion came to look to the United States as
their home instead of condemning it for the poverty and misery which
accompanied the 1930s.29
THE RISE OF THE ENTREPRENEURIAL CLASS
Having enough money to ride out the first few lean years in America was difficult
enough for Mexicanos; amassing enough to start a small business was almost
hopeless. With the catastrophic effects of the Great Depression, the 1930s proved
to be one of the worst possible times to consider self-employment. Most Hispanics
had arrived from Mexico or other parts of Texas with little money and were forced
to seek employment wherever they could find it. Low wages and long hours left lit-
tle time to devote to starting and maintaining independent ventures. Some worked
for years before being able to scrape together enough money to start a business.
Local banking institutions were not in the habit of approving loans to people with-
out established credit, let alone poor Mexican immigrants.
Education proved to be yet another barrier. With few exceptions, most people
Making a Living 47
arriving from Mexico during the first thirty years of the twentieth century came
with little or no formal education. Most possessed skills associated with farming,
ranching, butchering, or baking. These skills, together with a language barrier and
a lack of capital, dictated that they work for someone else. In Fort Worth, nothing
suited Mexicanos better than to work for any of the various slaughter and pack-
ing houses that dotted the North Side. Once established in any one of Fort
Worths many barrios, the children of these workers had an opportunity to attend
school, but before World War II, few went past the sixth grade. The pressing need
to help their parents forced children to earn a living and help with household
expenses, either by working in a family-run business, running errands, shining
shoes, or by having a paper route. Hence, most were content to be able simply to
read, write, and count. When asked by his grandson why he did not continue on
to high school in order to get a better job, Mario Trujillo responded, It did not
matter how much education you had, youd wind up doing manual labor. You
30
didnt stand a chance if you were Mexican. For all these reasons, most
Mexicans did not place a high value on or give priority to education. Yet, despite
barriers of racial prejudice and lack of money and education, small enterprises did
spring up in the various Hispanic neighborhoods of Fort Worth.
Because of capital, language, educational, and geographic limitations,
Hispanic businesses begun before or during the 1930s consisted of small mom-
and-pop establishments usually located within or in front of the family home.
Creating extra income in order to supplement meager wages motivated some
enterprising individuals to consider going into business for themselves. For
others, the skills they had acquired in Mexico such as running small grocery
stores, butcher shops, or bakeries, gave them the incentive to begin similar oper-
ations in their new surroundings. A few eventually became successful restaura-
teurs at the insistence and encouragement of friends or acquaintances who had
sampled their cooking.
At first, Hispanics faced little or no competition to the small businesses they
established within their own little enclaves. Virtually all of these concerns gave
credit to neighborhood families for essential goods. All this changed by the mid-
1930s when large chain stores like Safeway, which offered cheaper items on a
cash-only basis, moved into the territory of small neighborhood stores. According
to sociologist David Montejano, the introduction of cash and carry chain stores
throughout Texas in the early twentieth century, for example, put credit stores on
the defensive, for goods purchased in cash-and-carry stores like Piggly Wiggly
31
and J. C. Penney were cheaper than those in credit stores. The larger chain
stores therefore had a severe effect on Hispanic small businesses. Within a few
years, many Hispanic small business owners found themselves unable to meet
the competition of these chain stores, and began to fold.
T H E G R E AT D E P R E S S I O N
Fort Worths economy suffered when ranchers began to send their cows to market
on the trains, rather than the trailsaffecting most profoundly the poorest ranks
of society. It wasnt until the turn of the twentieth century, when B.B. Paddock, edi-
tor of the Daily Democrat, called upon the city to industrialize in order to diversify
its economic base that a more stable climate emerged. Paddocks farsightedness led
to the development of the packing plants, the utilities, the Fort Worth Brewing
Company, and a host of other industries that increased the number of jobs in the
city.32 But the 1930s were to have a shattering effect on Mexicanos.
The stock market crash in October 1929 heralded the arrival of the Great
Depression. Between 1931 and 1934, the Fort Worth City Council appropriated
money for emergency services and soup kitchens. In 1933 the council applied for
federal aid to establish public works projects.33 Over fifteen million dollars of
New Deal34 money helped to construct the Ballinger and Daggett Street
overpasses, improve Rosedale Street, provide a lighting system for the municipal
airport, and build a new city hall, library, and the Will Rogers Memorial
Auditorium and Coliseum complex.35 While most of this work was given to
needy Anglos, some Mexicanos and African Americans also participated in the
road and construction crews.
During the Depression, the number of people (mainly men) scrambling for
fewer and fewer jobs created an atmosphere in which some Anglos advocated the
deportation and repatriation of Mexican citizens, especially in rural areas where
drought and plummeting crop prices took a heavy toll. Many Mexicanos in Fort
Worth, with good jobs and children who had been born in the United States,
refused to leave. When immigration and naturalization officials intimidated the
Making a Living 49
head of one household in the North Side, the Mexicano boldly retorted, Im
coming back, so come back in thirty days and get me again. The government
officials gave up on the spot and moved on.36
Of the estimated 5,000 Mexicanos who lived in Fort Worth in 1930, almost half
returned to their homeland. Decisions to leave centered on the difficulty of finding
work, the intimidation of some disgruntled Anglos, and offers of jobs and land from
the Mexican government. Approximately 250,000 men, women, and children left
Texas during the 1930s, leaving a Mexican-Texan population of at least 500,000.37
Many Mexicanos faced hardship and danger to come to America. Once they
arrived, however, they sometimes found life was far from ideal. Jobs were often
scarce and low-paying. Mexicans were forced to move frequently in search of
better-paying jobs or more hospitable communities. Fort Worth in the late nine-
teenth and early twentieth centuries proffered a unique confluence of industries
cattle, steel, and railroadswhich were incentives for immigrants to make Fort
Worth their home. In the stories of these early immigrants lies the foundation of
the vibrant community of Mexican Fort Worth.
STORIES FROM THE BARRIOS
The oldest Hispanic-owned restaurant still in operation, The Original Mexican

Eats Caf, opened for business in 1926 at 4713 Camp Bowie Boulevard. Begun by
Gernimo and Lola (San Miguel) Pieda, the business was unique in that it was
not located within any of the Hispanic enclaves in the city.
Born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1871, Gernimo Pieda served in his countrys

38
army for twelve years until discharged in August 1898, about the time the
Spanish-American War ended. He made his way to the United States where he
39
eventually secured a job selling insurance in South Texas. Lola San Miguel,
whose parents hailed from Mzquiz, Coahuila, Mexico, was born in Laredo,
Texas, on December 18, 1881. Gernimo and Lola were married in Austin, Texas,
40
on April 29, 1911.
While in Austin, Lola gave birth to two daughters, Eva in 1912, and Ruth
in 1914. Gernimo Pieda kept traveling from town to town, selling insurance,
until the early 1920s when he moved his family to Waco and used their savings
to start a restaurant. They opened the Texas Caf in downtown Waco; it was suc-
cessful enough to allow them to build a home and purchase an automobile with
their profits. The 1920s boom in business allowed the Piedas to open a second
restaurant called the Villa Valencia. Unfortunately the good times did not last. In
1929, about the same time that Eva graduated as valedictorian of
her class at Waco High School, the stock market crashed. Overextended with
payments for their home, car, and restaurants, the Piedas lost everything for
which they had worked. Determined to start anew, the family moved to Fort
41
Worth in 1930 to open a new restaurant, this time using borrowed funds.
Having lost all his capital, Gernimo could not get a loan from a bank to
finance his business and resorted to borrowing funds from a gambler. Although
it took several years to repay the loan, Gernimo and Lola succeeded in estab-
lishing their new restaurantThe Original Mexican Eats Caf. The restaurant
began with one room and a kitchen separated by a door. Between the two rooms
was a window through which plates were passed. During the Depression, there
were just two employeesa cook and a busboy. Patrons ordered at the window
and when their order was ready, they carried their own plates to the table. When
they were finished, a busboy cleaned up. Eventually expanding to accommodate
42
seventy-eight patrons, The Original opened every day for lunch and dinner.
Lola San Miguel Pieda served her mothers traditional northern Mexico recipes.
At first the entire family waited on customers, but as the volume of business grew
they hired Mexicanos as waiters. Over the years former waiters at the Original
moved on and opened their own restaurants, e.g., Jim Martnez from Del Rio,
43
Manuel Marroqun (Casa Linda), and Sam Becera.
Because they have had the same cooks for many years, the Original has had
remarkable consistency in food quality. Mrs. Ins Richardson worked there thirty
years or more and was personally instructed by Ruth Pieda in all aspects of food
preparation and presentation. She mentioned that the Piedas were strict and
very businesslike in their dealings with all employees.
In spite of the Great Depression, the Piedas soon developed a thriving
business and drew a large Anglo clientele that included the cream of Fort Worth
societythe Leonards, the Moncriefs, and the Carters. Franklin Delano
Roosevelts son, Elliott, regularly dined at the Original during the late 1930s.
Making a Living 51
(c. 1940) Gernimo, Lola

(San Miguel), and daughter
Ruth in front of their home,
Elliott lived in Benbrook with his new bride, Fort Worth socialite Ruth Googins, not far from their restaurant,
the Original Mexican Eats
44
and managed his radio and ranching interests in the area. A regular customer, Caf. Photo courtesy of John J.
Kane.
Elliott always ordered one enchilada, one taco, and one chalupa without the usual
side order of refried beans and rice. The Piedas permanently dubbed this combi-
nation plate the Roosevelt Special in his honor, and it is still on the menu today.
Other well-known personalities who have visited and tasted Lola Piedas recipes
45
include actor Jimmy Stewart and former Speaker of the House Jim Wright.
In the late 1930s, the Pieda family bought a home at 1709 Ashland Avenue,
in the Arlington Heights subdivision. Located within walking distance of the
restaurant, the comfortable residence allowed the older Piedas the opportunity
to come home and take a restful nap after the frenzied lunch business. In
1940, when everything seemed to be going well for the family, Gernimo Pieda
suddenly developed stomach cancer. He passed away on January 18, 1941, at the
age of sixty-nine, leaving Lola Pieda and her daughter Ruth to manage the
restaurant. As a child, Ruth was incapacitated with rheumatic fever, a condition
that seriously impaired her heart valves and limited her activity. The constant
46
companion to her mother, Ruth remained single all her life.
Eva, meanwhile, had found employment as a bookkeeper at the downtown
Steins Credit Jewelers. In November of 1942 Eva met John J. Kane at a USO
reception at the Texas Hotel. Kane was a United States Marine stationed at Eagle
Mountain Lake, undergoing training as a navigator with the glider squadron.
Formerly of Holyoke, Massachusetts, the young serviceman began a courtship,
47
and the couple married on May 12, 1943. Eva, who learned to cook from her
mother, prepared superb menudo, flour tortillas, and hogshead tamales that melted
48
in the mouth at Noche Buena, family members recall.
In the early 1960s Lola and Ruth decided to sell the restaurant to their
accountant, Gordon Sheffield, and his wife, Louise. Ruth, who had suffered so
long from ill health, passed away at the age of fifty-two on September 12, 1966.
Surviving both her husband and daughter, Lola Pieda died on October 2, 1974,
49
at the age of ninety-three.
The Sheffields operated the restaurant until August 1972 when they sold it
50
to Joe Holton (Louises son by a previous marriage). At first Holton hated the
restaurant business, but the Original was so profitable that now he would never
51
consider disposing of it because one never sells a goose that lays golden eggs.
Today the restaurant serves about seven hundred to a thousand customers per
day, maintains a staff of about thirty-six, and has been expanded to include two
52
more dining rooms and a bar.
The oldest bakery in the North Side belonged to Gregorio Esparza, Sr., who
was born in 1899 in San Luis Potos, where he had worked as a baker in his youth.
In 1921, Esparza emigrated to Dallas to escape the Mexican Revolution. He
worked at the Adolphus Hotel as a busboy and in 1924 met and married the
former Consuelo Cabello. The couple eventually had four children: Alice, Mara,
Gregorio, Jr., and Socorro. In 1927, they moved to Fort Worths North Side, where
Gregorio set up a bakery on Northeast 23rd and North Commerce streets. Esparza
later moved diagonally across Northeast 23rd Street to establish a small grocery
store still in operation today. The store sold not only freshly baked goods and
basic staples but also carried an array of herbs and spices used as remedios caseros
Making a Living 53
(home remedies) for a variety of ailments. Esparzas stock was invaluable to North
53
Side residents who lacked the funds to pay doctors.
Joe T. Garcas, the most famous Hispanic enterprise to emerge out of the
old North Side, has an interesting history. Jos Tafolla Garca, born March 5,
1898, in La Piedad, Michoacn, Mexico, was the only child of Refugio Tafolla
54
and Mara Garca. Refugio owned a carnicera (meat market) and a ranch, on
which he raised cattle, chickens, wheat, corn, and maismilo (chicken feed). When
Joe T. was only three months old, his father passed away, leaving his mother and
uncle, Juan Saldaa Garca, responsible for operating the ranch and meat mar-
ket. To (Uncle) Juan raised Joe T. and in 1912 brought him to Fort Worth, flee-
ing the Mexican Revolution. They had been working at the Bluebonnet Packing
House for a year when they received news of the death of Joe T.s mother. For
many years, Garca dreamed of one day returning to his patria, and he always har-
bored ambivalent feelings about living in the United States. He felt American
values and morals were inferior to those more traditional ones found back in
55
his tierra. Nevertheless, sometime in the early 1920s, when he had saved
enough money to start a business, Uncle Juan Saldaa Garca opened a small
grocery store and meat market on the southeast corner of Northeast 22nd and
North Calhoun streets.
In 1929, To Juan returned to Mexico leaving his nephew Joe T., now
thirty-one, in charge of the business. By this time, Joe had married Jesusa
(Mama Sus) Torres and produced several children. In addition to groceries, the
store brought truckloads of pottery from Guanajuato, Mexicocasuelas, jarros
marranitos (piggy banks), pots, and vasesto sell. The store also stocked many
herbs and spices such as manzanilla (used to treat upset stomach and colic), canela
(cinnamon for making tea and for sweet bread flavoring), anise (for bread), and
gordo lobo (an herb good for the kidneys). The dry herbs and spices came from
Mexico, but the fresh ones were raised on ranchitos around Fort Worth. Straw
hats and vanilla also came from Mexico, and hats for children proved to be the
56
best sellers. Joe T.s daughter, Hope, as astute a businessperson as her father,
managed the grocery store until 1955 (Joe T. passed away in 1953), when the deci-
sion was made to close it.

In the early 1930s, Joe T. Garca had begun to sell meat wholesale, using a
truck to deliver beef to Leonards Everybodys Store downtown on First and
Throckmorton streets. He also made deliveries to the police department and to
many small grocery stores. The wholesale meat operation continued until the
57
mid-1930s, when Joe T. decided that the time was right to open a restaurant.
Mama Sus had been serving hot Mexican food to the workers of the City
Packing Company, located right across the street from the store. The delicious
homemade food drew rave comments, which gave Joe T. the idea of opening a
restaurant. Several years later, in the early 1930s, Joe T. sold the Northeast 22nd
and North Calhoun property to Antonio (El Arabe) and moved the operation
that he now called Joes Place one block east to 2140 North Commerce, locat-
1935 grand opening of ed on the southeast corner of Northeast 22nd and North Commerce (diagonally
Joe T. Garcas, with his 58
four daughters ready to opposite the restaurants present-day location).
assist. Photo courtesy of
Hope Garca Lancarte and On July 4, 1935, Joe T. Garca, Mama Sus, and their five children, Josephine,
Mary Garca Christian.
Making a Living 55
(c. early-1950s) Joe T. Garca

showing Texas Governor
Allan Shivers a sample of
his barbecuing skills. Photo
courtesy of Hope Garca
Lancarte and Mary Garca
Christian.
Ralph, Pauline, Mary, and Hope, opened the family restaurant for business under
the name Joe T. Garcas. The building sagged so badly it had been condemned,
but the family repaired it, cleaned it up, and gave it a new coat of paint. They lived
in the back and operated the restaurant in the front of their home. The restaurant
consisted of a kitchen and a large room with eight tablestwo tables for six and
six tables for four persons. Both kitchen and dining room were kept clean and
spotless under Mama Sus close supervision. Joe T. and his daughters all pitched
in to help Mama Sus prepare and serve the hot dishes, such as carne de chile adoba-
da, enchiladas, tacos, and tamales de puerco y de dulce. These dishes are traditional
59
Michoacn-style from Mama Suss native state.
Joe T. Garca even experimented with Texas chili and southern-style
barbeque recipes obtained from his African American friend, Stanley Woodard.
Stanleys brother, an excellent chef, owned Jacks Barbeque on Angle Street.
Joe T. added his own special Mexican spices to the recipe and served barbequed
brisket, ribs, chicken, and turkey. Every Thanksgiving, Joe T. prepared at least
fifty turkeys for the Fort Worth Boat Club. He supervised the slow cooking in a
60
huge, specially built grill, a process that took from 8:00 P.M. until 8:00 A.M.
Garca could very well have been the first Mexicano who actively courted
Anglo business. To promote his restaurant Joe T. asked daughter Mary to take
sample dishes to the downtown offices of lawyers, judges, and bankers. Along
with the Mexican food, Mary gave each prospective customer a complimentary
Pauline and Hope Garca

flower, usually a cape jasmine. Joe T. also prepared special banquets and invited
proudly displaying a platter
full of delicious enchiladas at
the public to sample his dishes, in part to demonstrate his gratitude for their
Joe T. Garcas. Photo courtesy
of Hope Garca Lancarte and
continuing patronage. All these efforts, especially word-of-mouth recommenda-
Mary Garca Christian.
Making a Living 57
tions, paid off and helped elevate Joe T. Garcas to the status of a premier Fort
61
Worth institution and landmark.
The family of Joe T. Garca was successful because they served a quality
product, marketed it aggressively, and were always present to ensure good service.
Joe T. Garca succeeded because he was gregarious, outgoing, and a good busi-
nessman who know how to treat his customers and keep track of expenses. There
is an old saying in Spanish, bajo el ojo del dueo engorda el caballo, which literally
means, under the eye of the owner the horse fattens. In plain English, this
old proverb means that a business will prosper if the owner is present, alert,
and working hard. Today, the third and fourth generations of Garcas are still
personally involved in the business. Esperanzas, a restaurant and bakery serving
Mexican-style breakfast and lunch, opened in the early 1980s. At least three
family members are involved in the daily operations of this enterprise. Many in
Fort Worth consider Joe T.s the best Mexican restaurant in the entire city.
Diagonally across from where Joe T. Garca and his uncle established their
famous restaurant on Northeast 22nd and North Calhoun Streets, Orencio and
62
Elisa Cagigal tore down two shotgun houses and built a two-story home with a
little grocery store in front.
Orencio Doce Cagigal, born in September 1885 in Palencia, Spain, in the
northern Basque country, came from a family that included five boys and two
63
sistersMara and Francisca (Paca). In 1905, when Orencio was twenty, he
left Spain with his older sister, Francisca, her husband, and their daughter Lisinia,
64
bound for Havana, Cuba. After a few years, they moved to Mexico City for a
short while before finally settling in northern Mexico. In 1912, he met Elisa
Acua, the daughter of Simn Acua, a traveling merchant who used a horse and
65
buggy and was based at La Rosita, Nuevo Len. Orencio and Elisa married in
1915 in San Antonio, Texas. After a short stay in San Antonio, the couple moved
near Thurber, Texas, where Orencio worked in the mines at Strawn and at
Beargram. It was in this community that Elisa gave birth to three of her four sons:
Artemio, 1917; Orencio, Jr., 1919; and, Simon, 1921. In 1922 Orencio moved his
young family to Fort Worth, where a fourth son, Francisco, was born in 1924. A
(April 1965) Fiftieth wedding

anniversary of Orencio and
Elisa Cagigal, celebrated by
their children. L to R:
carpenter by trade, Orencio plied his craft throughout the North Side neighbor-
Simon, Orencio, Jr., 66
Orencio, Sr., Elisa (Acua ,
hoods while his wife ran their newly built store at 2201 North Calhoun Street.67
Artemio (Temo), and
Frank. Photo courtesy of Frank
Elisa took after her business-minded father and not only managed the store
and Maggie Cagigal.
but also cooked and sold hot lunches, usually guisos (stews) and vegetables, to the
workers of the City Packing Company located across the street. In addition to
groceries and meals, Elisa sold sodas for two cents, several flavors of ice cream,
and raspas (snow cones with fruit flavoring). Elisa had a small booklet (libreta) in
which she carefully recorded the purchases on accountmost people bought
from her on credit. Although she never learned English well, Elisa somehow man-
aged to communicate with the Anglo vendors who regularly called on her store.
Orencio Doce Cagigal passed away in 1965 at the age of eighty; Elisa survived him
68
by twenty-two years, passing away at the age of ninety-three in 1987.

Making a Living 59
One of Fort Worths most long-lived Mexican barbershops was owned by

Amador F. Gutirrez. Amador was born in 1896 in Chihuahua, Mexico, where his
father owned a tienda de abarrotes (grocery store). Between 1905 and 1910
Gutirrez arrived in El Paso, Texas, in search of employment. He worked for the
Texas & Pacific Railroad until 1915, when he and his new bride of one year, Paula
Garca, moved to Fort Worths North Side. Gutirrez worked for Swift and
Company preparing and salting bacon until his retirement in 1946. Amador and
Paula raised seven childrenCelia, Esther, Amador G., Gilberto, Leonor, Ernesto,
69
and Raymundo.
Even while working for Swift and Company during the day, Amador also
operated his own barbershop at 2221 North Commerce, on the corner of
Northeast 23rd and North Commerce (across the street from the Esparza
Grocery). He conducted this moonlighting operation in the late afternoons and
evenings after his regular job at Swift in order to earn extra income. The barber-
shop was in a room fourteen by twenty feet, and the family home was located in
the rear of the shop. In 1945, after his retirement from Swift, Gutirrez moved
his barbershop to a better location at 1424 North Main Street. As the barbershop
was actually the side room of Rafael (Ralph) Y. Valles pool hall, Gutirrez had
70
greater visibility and attracted more walk-in traffic. Amadors clientele remained
71
with him until his death on September 7, 1962.
Born on July 4, 1921, in Fort Worth, Alejandro Gallegos, Sr., inherited a

love for doing business from his parents. During the first decade of the twentieth
century, his father, Vicente Gallegos, began his career selling merchandise out of
a wagon. Soon tiring of this itinerant life, Vicente opened a butcher shop with his
brother. He quickly expanded the business to include general merchandise as well
as homemade masa and tortillas.72
Around 1910 Vicente Gallegos married Rosa Snchez, who was born in
1886 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Even though her family owned and operated
a successful meat market, Rosa had always longed to move to the United States.
Vicente and Rosa raised a family that included Benjamin, Ester, Catalina, Alfredo,
Vicente, Jr., and Alejandro. 73
During the Mexican Revolution the store burned down and Vicente
moved to another location to establish a second store, one that sold abarrotes
(groceries). This store was burned down as well, and his family decided it was
time to leave Mexico and head north. After passing through Laredo, Texas, the
family made its way to Fort Worth in June 1918 to meet Rosas uncle-in-law,
Bernardino Santoyo, a cobbler. 74
Vicente found work as a bricklayer. He helped to build the Santa Fe Railroad
terminal and the Texas Hotel. Vicente also set up a little grocery store and pandera
(bakery) on Belknap Street. In 1924, the Gallegos family bought a house at 1400
North Calhoun on the North Side, where they established a grocery store, a meat
In 1940 the Texas Hotel
kitchen staff included market, and bakery. Vicente also set up a mill for making tortilla masa from
Alejandro Gallegos, Sr., (far
left) and Salvador Gonzalez, ground corn and hired four ladies to make fresh tortillas to sell. In 1925, Gallegos
Jr. (fourth from left).
Alejandros two sons, bought a new truck for the large deliveries he made each day. In the Prohibition
Alex, Jr., and Alfredo own
Los Alamos Mexican era, Vicente even indulged in a little bootlegging to help make ends meet.75
restaurant. Photo courtesy of
Sara Barajas Gallegos.
Making a Living 61
Rosa S. Gallegos passed away in 1927 and her husband, Vicente, died
in 1933. Economic hardships at the height of the Great Depression made it
difficult for the family to continue their house payments, and the First National
Bank repossessed the home. The property was subsequently acquired by
J. J. Domnguez, Sr., and it became the site for the Mutualista San Jos. Vicentes
and Rosas oldest child, Benjamin, soon left Fort Worth, but his brothers and
sisters remained. Because the North Calhoun Street house was dear to them,
the remaining Gallegos children tried repeatedly to buy it back but were unsuc-
cessful. Instead, Alejandro and his siblings pitched in and purchased a home on
the opposite side of the street at 1405 North Calhoun.76
In 1935, fourteen-year-old Alejandro began working at the downtown Texas
Hotel as a dishwasher. Before long he was promoted to fry cook. Helping his
siblings to make ends meet, Alejandro worked for the hotel until 1942, when he
was called to active duty by the army. Before leaving Fort Worth Gallegos married
Sara Barajas in June 1942. Born on January 25, 1920, in Dwight, Illinois, Sara
Barajas Gallegos was the daughter of Librado Barajas and Mara Infante.
Alejandro and Sara had six children over the next twenty yearsRosemary, 1942;
Ester, 1944; Alex, Jr., 1953; Frankie, 1954, Alfred, 1956; and Robert, 1962.77
Within months of the December 7, 1941, Japanese surprise attack on Pearl
Harbor, Alejandro Gallegos reported for desert training in California, expecting to
be sent to North Africa. Instead, Alejandro was sent to England and participated
in the massive D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. During the amphibious landing,
Gallegos received a concussion from the blast of a shell and was dispatched to
England to recuperate in an army hospital. His wife, Sara, received a telegram
informing her that he had been injured. Alejandro, unable to write any letters
home during his six-month recuperation, was finally discharged. In November
1945 the Gallegos family was reunited.78
Alejandro Gallegos returned briefly to his old job at the Texas Hotel, but it
was not long before he began planning to go into business for himself. In 1949
he rented a space at 1438 North Main Street, just south of the Marine Theater,
from his friend Raymond Burciaga. Alejandros brother Mike, who worked for
General Motors in Michigan, lent him $200 to start the venture.79 Relying on the
recipes of his mother-in-law, Mara Infante Barajas, of Morelia, Michoacn,
Alejandro established a restaurant that he called La Villita. The business contin-

ued for ten years until a series of rent increases caused Gallegos to look for a
property he could call his own. With additional loans, Alejandro planned the
construction of his new restaurant, Los Alamos, just north of the Marine
Theater,80 and in 1959 the tin structure located on this corner was demolished to
make room for Los Alamos. The particular block on which the restaurant was
located was also home to a number of bars, and their patrons sometimes were
involved in altercations. There were even a few killings. As a result, Alejandro
closed Los Alamos by seven or eight in the evening in order that his customers
might avoid the rowdy bar crowd.
The menu at Los Alamos featured standard entrees such as enchiladas,
tacos, tostadas, and flautas,81 all accompanied by rice and beans. Tamales and
menudo, a typical Mexican soup consisting of tripe and hominy, were usually
available as well.82 Burritos (flour tortilla tacos) could be ordered with either carne
guisada con frijoles, chorizo con huevo, papas con huevos, machacado con huevo, or
picadillo.83 However, the restaurants specialty was the deliciously seasoned pork
chops rancheros; the recipe was a closely guarded secret.
Another restaurateur-to-be, Pedro Pulido, Sr., was born on August 11, 1907,
near the town of Ecundureo, Michoacn. At an early age Pulido helped his father,
Dolores Pulido,84 work the fields. Sharecroppers of some substantial acreage,
young Pulido and his father raised corn on their milpa (small acreage of tillable
land), half of which belonged to the hacienda de Uccuaro. In 1925, at the age of
eighteen, a friend of Pedros told him about all the good jobs available in the
United States. The friend gave him the name of some renganches (labor agents or
contractors) located in the border town of Laredo, Texas, who would help him
85
find work.
When Pedro arrived in Laredo, the labor agents sent him to Montana to
work for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Wearing his traditional clothing and
huaraches in freezing weather, Pedro wound up assisting the cook of a road
maintenance gang in Montana for about a year. As part of the obligation of
86
being the eldest child (there were nine siblings in all), Pedro sent most of his
Making a Living 63
money to help support the rest of his family in Mexico. Montana was so far
87
from home and so cold that Pedro decided to migrate south to Argyle, Texas,
where he lived for one year in a section house (railroad workers housing) and
worked on a railroad maintenance crew. In August 1927 he found a job working
for the Texas & Pacific Railroad and moved to the Fort Worth barrio of
88
El Papalote. At the Texas & Pacific Railroad roundhouse, Pedros responsibilities
included washing the engines, filling them up with sand for traction, and loading
them with coal (before the change to diesel). Pedro Pulido worked for the T&P
89
for thirty-one years until his retirement in 1968.
In 1935, Pedro Pulido married Dionicia Mrquez, the daughter of Mauricio
and Eufemia Cruz Mrquez. Dionicia was born on April 9, 1911, in the small
agricultural community of Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco. While his family was still in
Mexico, Mauricio Mrquez came to Texas and worked on a road crew for the
Santa Fe Railroad. In 1919 he returned to Mexico to bring his family to Texas.
Before finally settling in Fort Worth in 1930, the family followed jobs, continu-
ously on the move, living mostly in section housing in places like Robstown,
Mexia, Coolidge, and Eastland. Widowed since 1930 (she married in 1924 at the
age of thirteen), Dionicia had three childrenVincent, Philip, and Shannon
90
(Chano) Pulidowhom Pedro adopted.
From 1935 to 1941 Pedro, Dionicia, and their three sons rented a home on
Presidio Street in the heart of El Papalote. The family grew to seven children in all
with the birth of Mary in 1936, Pedro (Pete), Jr., in 1938, Rodolfo (Rudy) in
91
1939, and Robert in 1941. In 1941, the same year as Roberts birth, the Pulidos
moved from El Papalote to the barrio that would forever be associated with them
El TP.92
The family purchased a roomy two-story home at 2921 Spring Street for
$1,200. On the first floor were three bedrooms, two baths, a living room, and a
kitchen; the large room on the second floor served as a dorm for the children.
Although this house no longer exists, it was across the street from the original
93
Pulidos restaurant. Over the years, the Pulidos bought land and houses in the
barrio to rent out for additional income. Pedros family and other TP families
attended the Catholic mission of San Mateo, the spiritual center of the barrio,
established in 1941.
A veritable menagerie of animals populated the Pulidos spacious backyard

94
that sloped gradually to a creek. Most of the time, there were two horses, four
to five milk cows, and about fifty to sixty chickens. A reflection of his agricul-
tural roots in Mexico, Pedro Pulido enjoyed raising these animals, and the
money he received from the sale of his dairy products supplemented the
familys income. Pedro also raised corn, onions, potatoes, squash, and jalapeo
95
peppers. Twice a week Dionicia made forty to fifty little spheres of Mexican
asadero cheese from the cows milk. The children made the rounds of the neigh-
borhood selling the homemade cheese as well as milk, which was poured,
unpasteurized, into re-usable quart milk bottles. Dionicia made and sold pork
96
and chicken tamales and sold eggs by the dozen as well.
The Pulido boys helped their father raise the animals. Stumbling out of bed
every day at five, the brothers all took turns milking the cows. After a hearty
breakfast of papas con huevo they pastured the cows wherever there was vacant
land. One favorite field was the land on which the Ramada Inn is located today.
The boys drove the cows to pasture, staked their ropes firmly in the ground
97
to keep them from wandering, and dashed off to school. After school, they led
the cows back to the familys backyard and milked once more. The parents
insisted that all the children complete their homework before their nine oclock
98
bedtime.
The children also took turns delivering his favorite lunch to their father
99
taquitos, which might contain guiso de carne de puerco (pork stew), frijoles refritos
(refried beans), chorizo con huevo or papas con huevo. All the laborers, whether Anglo,
African American, or Mexican, ate their lunches together, and so it did not take
long for Pedros fellow workers to notice, and envy, the delicious aromas coming
from his lunch bag. They began bartering their desserts for his wifes mouth-
watering tacos. The craving did not end at lunch. After work Anglos began call-
ing at the Pulido home to purchase Mama Dionicias freshly made tamales to take
100
home for supper. A quiet revolution was being unleashedthanks to the
Pulidos and others, Mexican food gained acceptance by Anglos and was well on
its way to transforming the American culinary experience.
The idea of a restaurant began as an attempt to ensure the financial security
of the second generation of Pulidos. In 1962, Robert Pulido married Carol
Making a Living 65
101
Rodrguez, and they soon began their family. With plans for dental school
derailed because of lack of funds, Robert began working for his brother, Pete, in
his upholstery shop but did not earn enough to support his growing family
adequately. To learn the restaurant business Robert apprenticed at El Chico
restaurant on Berry and Lubbock streets managed by his brother-in-law,
Edward Gmez. Edward Gmez taught the Pulidos all the important aspects The Pedro Pulido family at
their tortilla factory. L to R:
of managing a restaurant. In 1965, family members began construction of a Rudy, Edward Gmez,
Robert, Sr. (with glasses),
restaurant building using timbers salvaged from the dismantling of the Texas & Dionicia, and Pedro Pulido.
102 The hard-working Pulidos
Pacific roundhouse. Pete Pulido upholstered all of the booths. exemplify the classic
rags-to-riches American
On July 1, 1966, the flagship restaurant on Spring Street was formally opened experience. Grandfather
Pedro began working as a
with all family members proudly present. While Pedro Pulido, Sr., still worked for Texas & Pacific Railroad
maintenance worker and
the Texas & Pacific, the rest of the family ran the restaurant. Mama Dionicia and opened the first Pulidos
Mexican Restaurant in
Robert handled all the cooking, and Carol and Mary took turns as cashiers and 1966. The entire Pulido
family became involved in
hostesses. Two teenage cousins from Mexico, George and Javier, worked as bus- making their business the
success it is today. Photo
boys, as did Tony de Anda, another cousin from Laredo. Pulidos Mexican restau- courtesy of Rudy Pulido and
Edward J. Gmez.
103
rant started out as a family affair and that tradition continues today.
The new restaurant was fortunate to have a good clientele from the begin-
ning. Mexicanos and Anglos, primarily from the Arlington Heights section of Fort
Worth, came in droves to patronize the establishment. Open for lunch and supper,
the restaurant had an original seating capacity of about eighty. Early menu entres
included tamales de puerco, cheese and chicken enchiladas, and beef or chicken
tacosall served with refried beans and rice. For dessert, there were New
Orleans-style pralines that Carol made fresh daily from her own personal
104
recipe.
Encouraged by the tremendous response to their first restaurant, the
Pulidos decided in January 1967 to incorporate. The following month they
opened their second restaurant on Highway 377. Restaurant number three
opened in 1968 in Arlington, followed by number four on the Jacksboro Highway
in 1969. Most of the units are managed by family members, including some
who came from Mexico over the years. Pedro (Don Pete) Pulido finally retired
105
from his railroad job in 1968 to help with the family business. Both he and his
wife continued to report to work daily, until he was well over ninety and she was
106
. . . well, never mind.
Today the corporation that Pedro and Dionicia began encompasses thirteen
107
area restaurants, tortilla and tamale factories, and has about three hundred
employees. In addition to supplying the needs of their own restaurants, the
factories sell their products to other area restaurants as well. Chips made at the
tortilla factory make their way to Reunion Arena and the Ballpark at Arlington.
With Edward Gmez as chairman of the board and Robert Pulido, Sr., as president,
108
the family enterprise boasts annual gross sales in excess of ten million dollars.
The family of a hard- working railroad laborer managed to succeed in making
the American dream a reality.
The Menchaca familys story is one of ability, coupled with determination,

passed down from generation to generation. Anacleto (Francisco) Menchaca
was born in 1877 in the state of Michoacn. Starting as a pen working in agri-
cultural fields, Francisco soon impressed his employer with his ability to break
Making a Living 67
horses. But at the age of fifteen he left the fields of his tierra for work in the coal
mines of New Mexico. After seven years in the coal mines, Francisco returned to
his native land to care for his parents. His aptitude, experience, and confidence
earned him a position as a caporal (foreman) on a large farm. This enhanced sta-
tus allowed Francisco to dress well and to ride a good horse with silver trim on
109
the saddle. Wherever he rode, self-assured Francisco attracted attention.
In 1902, he married Romana Candelria de Vrgas, who was born in 1887
in Pnjamo, Guanajuato. After four years in Mexico Francisco and Romana
emigrated to Fort Worth. In 1906 the Katy Railroad hired him as foreman of a
road crew. The Menchacas lived in la sessin (sidelined boxcars), where most of
110
their ten children were born. For a few years Francisco also worked for both
111
Armour and Swift, arranging non-overlapping shifts with each employer.
An independent-minded man, Francisco did not like working for others,
and in 1919 he rented acreage between the West Fork of the Trinity River and
(c. 1945) Anacleto

(Francisco) Menchaca
farmed the area of present-
day Rockwood Park Golf
Course and gained fame for
his shrewd horse-trading
abilities. The bulge on the
top pocket of his overalls is
the wad of money he always
carried with him. Photo cour-
tesy of Leonard Menchaca.
112 113
Jacksboro Highway from a veterinarian named Cardona. An excellent land-
lord, Cardona built a four-room house for the growing Menchaca family On
this river-bottom land Francisco planted wheat, onions, squash, sweet potatoes,
beans, potatoes, melons, and two varieties of cornone for animal and the other
for human consumption. Francisco loved to negotiate the purchase of mixed-
breed cattle to raise and sell. To assist him in taking care of his growing enterprise
Menchaca hired Mexicanos from the North Side. Even Joe T. Garca worked for
Francisco before he started his restaurant. Mexicanos soon came looking for
114
work, and those who were hired lived in tents on the property.
Using a one-horse wagon sons Juan and Leonard helped their father by
selling surplus fruits and vegetables throughout the North Sides Anglo neigh-
borhoods. The door-to-door peddling proved difficult because some Anglos
displayed open hostility toward the boys. Once, when a Mexicano was killed
downtown, an unruly crowd of North Side Anglo vigilantes proceeded toward
the Menchaca home with the intention of stoning the family.
An Anglo lady who lived on Grand Avenue on a bluff overlooking the
Menchaca homestead knew the family and succeeded in stopping the angry mob.
They are good people, leave them alone! The crowd dissipated and a few weeks
115
later the Menchaca family relocated to the North Side barrio.
Francisco rented a shotgun house at 1213 North Grove Street and rented
river-bottom land between North Grove and the Trinity River. The property was
ideal for the Menchacas, because in the back of the house was a barn suitable
for Franciscos dairy herd of forty Holsteins. Franciscos two brothers who lived
in California urged him to relocate there, and in 1927 he sold everything except
one milk cow and two horses. In the midst of these preparations to leave, the cou-
ples seven-year-old son, Santos, became ill and died. The wake was held at the
116
Menchaca home.
It seemed as if the family was destined for bad luck, for, hardly had they
recovered from the death of Santos, when they lost their home and their life sav-
ings. Francisco had purchased an organ from a friend to use as a bank, secreting
all of his money in a hidden compartment. This included the money he had
made selling his dairy herd for the move to California. Shortly after Santos death
the Menchacas returned from their fields to discover that their home had burned
Making a Living 69
down. Initially the cause of the fire was thought to be a fallen candle, but in
sifting through the ashes Francisco never found any evidence that his money had
burned along with the organ. This led him to suspect that the fire had been start-
117
ed deliberately to cover up a robbery.
Once the family settled into the house next door Francisco began negoti-
ating for a new herd of dairy cows. To accommodate the seventy Holsteins just
purchased, he leased both sides of river-bottom land between Samuels and
North Grove streets. On the east side of the Trinity he planted milo maize for
cattle feed. A natural-born trader Francisco also made money buying and selling
livestock and with the profits from the dairy he provided well for his family
118
throughout the decade of the Depression.
Even before the start of World War II Francisco had found another source of
income. Behind the dairy barn was a series of gravel pits where people had been
dumping their trash. Francisco bought all of the pits and began to charge ten cents
a load for dumping trash. Although people initially complained, Francisco called a
city official who verified Menchacas claim of ownership, posted a sign, and stopped
the complaints. Just before the start of World War II Fort Worth City Inspector
Grammar recommended the passing of a city ordinance allowing junked parked
cars to be brought to people like Menchaca to be sold as scrap metal. The Japanese
were buying all the scrap iron they could get their hands on. During the last years
of the Great Depression Francisco hired Mexicanos like the Holguines, Ruperto
119 120
Garca, and Antonio and Luis Zapata to help him in the scrap metal business.
The start of World War II heralded several changes for the Menchaca
family. On December 7, 1941, Leonard was in basic training at Fort Sill,
Oklahoma, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. His older brother, Juan,
had moved to Colorado to pursue a career in painting. With both of his princi-
pal helpers gone Francisco could not continue leasing the river-bottom land; he
121
sold his herd of Holsteins and quit the dairy business.
On returning home from the war, Leonard worked as a truck driver for a
series of freight and moving companies. He began dating Anglo women until a
Mexicana on the city bus got his attention. While he was going downtown to meet
a date, Ramona Alvarez was going to church on the same bus. When he finally
mustered enough courage to talk to her, she invited him to her home at 1220
North Calhoun, where she served him a bowl of soup. On July 29, 1944, Leonard
122
Menchaca and Ramona Alvarez married and eventually raised a family of fifteen.
His father, Francisco Menchaca, whose livestock-trading instincts had served the
family well, passed away in 1950; his mother died a decade later. In 1982, after
having worked for Red Ball Lines for thirty-one years, Leonard retired and bought
a few acres of land north of Fort Worth in Montague county. He and his wife
123
enjoy living a quiet life in the country.
In the early 1940s Michael Ayalas brother, Louis, supplemented the familys
income by shining shoes at Jack Meads barbershop on East Central Avenue. In
1943, Jack asked Louis if he would like to go to Texas Barber College on
Throckmorton Street, and Louis jumped at the opportunity. The following year
he was cutting hair. A master barber familiar with the styles of the past five
decades, Louis Ayala has cut the hair of several movie stars including Jason
Robards and members of the cast of the popular TV series Dallas. Fort Worths
proximity to the movie studios at Las Colinas provided Ayala a steady stream of
famous clientele. When Oliver Stone began filming JFK in 1991 Louis gave actors
such as Kevin Costner the look of the late 1950s and early 1960s. When asked
about these stars, Louis replied that they are people like everyone else and he
124
doesnt react to them any differently.
North Side grocer Jos Jess Domnguez, Sr., was born in 1893 near Celaya
at Pursma del Rincn, Guanajuato, Mexico. His father, Prisciliano Domnguez,
owned a large fruit orchard, and his mother, who had given birth to four boys and
a girl, died shortly after Jos Jess was born. Prisciliano raised his five sons and
one daughter on his own. In 1913, at the age of twenty, Jos Jess and his older
brother, Jos Angel, emigrated to Fort Worth in order to escape the Mexican
Revolutionthe federales and other warring parties were forcibly conscripting
young men.125
In Fort Worth the brothers stayed at a North Side boardinghouse and found
work at Libbys Packing House. One day, around 1920, while at work, Jos Jess
accidentally cut off the index finger of his right hand. As compensation for his
Making a Living 71
injury, the company gave the young man a rather decent settlement. With the
money Jos Jess and his wife, Mara Concepcin Gonzalez, bought a shotgun
house at 2113 North Calhoun.126 The couple had already started a family that
eventually included six children: Jos Jess, Jr., Celia, Dolores D., Prisciliano,127
Virginia, and Concepcin. About 1926 Domnguez constructed a twelve by fifteen
foot room in front of the shotgun house and opened a grocery store. He called it
El faro (The Light) because of the bright light on the front of the store. It was
a true family enterprisemom, dad, and all six children helped to run the store.
They stocked groceries bought wholesale from the Waples-Platter Company and
purchased meat wholesale from City Packing Company.
Jos Jess recalled that tortillas were five cents a dozen; saltine crackers
five cents a sleeve; a twenty-ounce Nehi or Big Red sodafive cents; a quart of
milkten cents; one pound of bolognaten cents; a pound of longhorn
cheeseten to fifteen cents; and a pound of round steakfifteen cents. The
store also carried a wide variety of Mexican items that included spices, chiles,
garbanzos, and camarn seco (dried shrimp).128
Almost all customers bought on credit and paid their bills on payday; unfor-
tunately, some didnt settle their accounts. The 1932 opening of the Safeway store
on the corner of North Main and Northeast Twenty-Third streets had a terrible
effect on all the small stores in the North Side. When business began to be slow,
Domnguez supplemented the family income by working for Armour. Because of
increasing competition from the large supermarket chains, Domnguezs store
closed in the mid-1940s.129
The family of Rodolfo and Juanita Rodrguez lived one of the most amazing
success stories of the North Side. In 1919, at the age of eleven, Rodolfo Rodrguez,
his older brother, Eulogio, and their father, Florencio, left their home in El
Infiermillo, near Pnjamo, Guanajuato, Mexico, to start a new life north of the Rio
Grande. Warring factions in the Mexican Revolution had destroyed Florencios
rancho, where they had raised cattle, hogs, and other livestock. With proper immi-
gration papers in hand, Florencio and his two eldest sons worked their way from
Laredo to North Texas. They picked cotton in Hillsboro and then moved to Dallas,
where Florencio heard of possible employment at the packing houses of North

Fort Worth. With his knowledge of livestock as an asset, he applied for work at
Swift and Company, where he stayed for about a year and a half before returning
to his homeland to bring his wife, Felicitas, and his six other children to
America.130
When Florencio left to go back to Mexico, Eulogio stayed with a friend who
lived in La Diecisiete, while Rodolfo stayed on the North Side with Jose Tafolla
Garca131 and worked in his little restaurant. When Florencio returned with
Felicitas and the other children, the reunited family lived on the 2100 block of
North Calhoun.132
After two or three years Rodolfo and Eulogio both began working for the
Hotel Texas. When he was a little older, Rodolfo worked for Swift, icing down
railroad cars to keep the meat cold during shipping. Florencio had worked for
Swift and in later years worked for City Packing Company, located on North
Grove and Northeast Thirty-Fifth (or Thirty-Sixth) streets. He worked in the
hide house, curing cowhides in a process that involved immersing them in vats
of salt water.
Rodolfo Rodrguez married Juanita Trujillo the same month and year as the
great stock market crash, October 1929.133 Born on June 24, 1910, in Francisco
del Rincn, Guanajuato, Mexico, Juanita was the second child of Lino Trujillo.134
Lino came to the United States in search of work, leaving Juanita behind to be
raised by his cousin, Hilarin Franco, and his wife. In 1914, Hilarin Franco
brought Juanita to Fort Worth for a brief reunion with her father before moving
on to Kansas City to work for the Armour plant there. By 1925 Lino Trujillo, who
had remarried several years before, went to Kansas City to bring his daughter back
to Fort Worth. Juanita was in the eighth grade at the time.135
After their marriage Rodolfo and Juanita settled in a shotgun house at 2205
North Calhoun Street, where they brought up six children: Rudy, Ernesto, Ester,
Alice, Ral, and Charles.136 A dear family friend, Dr. Ral Lpez Guerra, delivered
all six children. Rodolfo and Juanita grew tomatoes and green beans in their small
backyard garden and kept a goat and several dogs as pets.137
Although Rodolfo supported his family by working for Swift and Company,
he had always wanted to go into business for himself. In 1939, he opened a pool
hall on the southwest corner of North Calhoun and Northeast 22nd streets. After
Making a Living 73
only a year in business, a fire destroyed the building. Undeterred, Rodolfo bought
a corner grocery store, which formerly belonged to his first employer, Joe T.
Garca, across the street from where the pool hall had been.138 The store was
especially appealing because it had a four-room house in back. During World War
II, Juanita took care of the store while Rodolfo served his tour of duty from 1943
to 1945 in the navy stationed in the Aleutian Islands. Because of his experience
managing a grocery store, he was put in charge of a navy commissary in Attu.
After two-and-a-half years, Rodolfo was honorably discharged and returned to
manage the business.139
In 1956, with money saved and his son, Rudy, out of school,140 Rodolfo and
Rudy opened Rodrguez and Son Food Mart in the 1400 block of North Main,
just south of the Marine Theater. They operated from this location until 1960,
when they moved to a larger facility and opened a supermarket on North Main
Street and Central Avenue.141 Five years later they opened Rodrguez Tortilla
Factory adjacent to the supermarket on Central Avenue. At first, the Rodrguezes
made only corn tortillas; they added flour tortillas in 1968 and chips, tostadas,
salsa, and chorizo in 1969.142 Father and son incorporated in 1969, creating the
present corporate entity, Rodrguez Festive Foods, Inc.
Over the next three decades, the operation expanded at an exhilarating pace.
By 1970, they had outgrown their facility on North Main and Central. The
Rodrguez family built their first processing plant at 913 North Houston, adjacent
to their present location. In 1979, they purchased a meat processing plant at 500
East Central Avenue to grind meat for burritos, enchiladas, and tamales. Next, in
1986, came the acquisition of the old J.W. Nichols Poultry plant, located at 899
North Houston. This former chicken-processing facility was immediately trans-
formed into a large-scale tortilla factory. The Rodrguez family purchased yet
another building at Northwest 28th and Decatur streets, a former grocery super-
market now used exclusively for making tamales.143
Today, Rodrguez Festive Foods, Inc., offers a product line that includes
corn and flour tortillas, chips and salsa, tamales, tacos, enchiladas, and burritos.
The tamales, tacos, enchiladas, and burritos are packaged and frozen at the plant
for distribution to thirty-five states and seven foreign countriesSpain,
Portugal, France, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Lebanon.
All wholesale business is presently handled through a system of regional

distributors. Thirty-five food brokers represent the company nationally, while
one represents it internationally.144
Rodolfo Rodrguez, who worked hard seven days a week throughout his
life, left an impressive legacy to his family, his North Side community, and to the
city of Fort Worth. He passed away in February 1988, and his sons proudly carry
on the family tradition of excellence and hard work. Rudy is now the chairman
of the board and chief executive officer of Rodrguez Festive Foods, Inc. Ernesto
is president of the company, while Ral serves as senior vice president and
Charles is secretary-treasurer. The company earned the Golden Tortilla Award
in 1995, an honor bestowed at the annual meeting of tortilla producers in Los
Angeles. At present, they employ 450 workers, most of whom live on
the North Side, and the corporation generates annual gross sales in excess of
thirty million dollars.145
Hermenejildo R. Martnez, an independent and successful concrete con-

tractor, lived with his wife, Sabina, and their children at 701 East Second
Street.146
Hermenejildo Rodrguez Martnez was born on April 13, 1889, in Austin.
On July 22, 1909, Hermenejildo married Sabina Vzquez, who was born on
December 30, 1893, in Seguin. The family soon grew with the birth of three
children: Amalia Martnez Romero, Francisca Martnez de Len, and Pedro
Vzquez Martnez.147 The family lived in Georgetown where they operated a
restaurant. Sabina also made and sold Mexican candies such as pecan pralines
and leche quemada,148 while Hermenejildo repaired shoes and cut hair. The
Martnez family came to Fort Worth in 1928, and Hermenejildo learned to be a
concrete contractor while working for the Mitiletic Company.149 Martnez soon
became known for high-quality work laying concrete foundations and by 1946
had formed his own contracting business, H. Martnez and Sons. Hermenejildo
and Sabina were gracious people who had extra rooms in their home to rent.
Their two-story home, considered luxurious at the time because it had indoor
plumbing and several bathrooms, was one of the finest residences owned by a
Making a Living 75
Mexicano in all of Fort Worth. Salvador Gonzalez, Jr., while working for the
downtown Fort Worth Club, rented an upstairs room from them when he and
his wife Mara were newlyweds.
Hermenejildo eventually passed the business on to the couples son, Pedro.
Hermenejildo R. Martnez worked until he was eighty before he retired. He
passed away on November 5, 1984, at the age of ninety-five.150
Antonio Vsquez Zapata was born in June 1883 in Baxter County to Jess
and Isabel Vsquez Zapata, originally from Del Rio. Zapatas wife, Antonia Elena
Miranda, born in June 1895, came from a ranching community near Valle de
Santiago in Guanajuato, Mexico. Antonio and Elena married in Fort Worth on
January 1, 1919. The marriage produced five children: Jess, Consuelo Z.
Narvaz, Josefina, Carmen, and Luis,151
A jack-of-all-trades, Antonio Zapata settled his family in La Corte. Zapata,
fluent in both English and Spanish, was often hired as a court interpreter and
sometimes helped immigrants with their paperwork for citizenship. Near the
courthouse, Antonio established his first restaurant next to a feed store. He
opened a second restaurant close to the barrio of La Diecisiete, across the street
from the Gayety Theater on the southwest corner of 15th and Main streets. An
enterprising man, Zapata opened his first grocery store in the early 1920s on the
northeast corner of Valley and Mills streets, next to his residence at 500 Mills
Street. From their store the Zapatas sold all the regular grocery itemssodas,
raspas (snow cones), pan dulce, five-cent Washington fruit pies, and other
staples.152 They sold beans by the pound out of large ceramic barrels. In an era
when few people could afford electric refrigerators, Antonio Zapata delivered
blocks of ice from house to house on his horse-drawn wagon. He purchased the
ice in bulk from one of the citys icehouses and wrapped the blocks with a heavy
tarpaulin to minimize melting.153 People usually bought on credit until payday,
a courtesy he extended to all. There were only a few customers who never paid
their bills. His daughter, Consuelo, sometimes helped at the store, but her frank
manner with certain customers earned her a strong rebuke from her mother,
qutate de aqu, porque te corres a los clientes. (Translation: Get out of here, for you
are going to scare the customers away.)154

Antonio Zapata raised his family in their La Corte home until his death in
December 1941. Antonia sold the property to Petra Zavala,155 and the Zapata
family moved to a duplex at 906 West Weatherford Street. This property, located
on the northwest corner of Weatherford and Henderson, was sold in 1946 to the
Kinnard brothers for a used-car dealership. Antonia Miranda Zapata passed away
in 1974.156
Chapter 4
FAMILY
L IFE
Throughout the history of Mexican immigration to the United States, the

importance of family has been evident: young and not-so-young males come
first and then send for the rest of their families. Relatives provide homes for
newly immigrated families. Families secure jobs for others or run businesses to
hand down to family. The triple burdens of culture, language, and discrimination
add layers to the depths of these connections. From courtship to cooking, from
traditional to folk medicine, the Mexican experience in the United States
demonstrates the importance of family.
Although Fort Worth had several businesses owned by Hispanic families,

the Caro familys story offers a unique perspective on the importance of family
and how traditions passed down through the generations often end up as lucra-
tive business opportunities. Mara de Lourdes (Lou) Caro was born in the late
1920s in Ro Grande City, Texas, to Juan Bautista and Modesta Cavzos Caro.
Juan Bautista Caro was the son of Eduardo and Felipa Caro and the grandson of
Dr. Juan Caro, a U.S. Army doctor from Pensacola, Florida, who was assigned to
Fort Ringgold, Ro Grande City, Texas, in the late 1800s. Dr. Caro married a
woman from Ro Grande City and eventually they had nine childreneight boys
and one girl. The family acquired land and ranches and sold hides, an important
business at that time. One of Dr. Caros eight sons, Eduardo, married a woman
named Felipa who was an excellent cook. Felipa owned a large ranch on the
Mexican side of the Ro Grande. On this ranch, they raised cattle, goats, chickens,
and vegetables such as corn, squash, onions, tomatoes, and peppers. There were
plenty of fresh ingredients with which to prepare fine border cuisine, and the
family thrived on admirable meals. Eduardo and Felipa had only one son, Juan
Bautista Caro, who lived the life of a playboyattending the opera, betting on
horse races, and playing second base for the Mexican baseball league team called
1
Los alacranes (the Scorpions).
While Juan was playing baseball and traveling with Los alacranes in Durango,
Mexico, some admiring ladies invited him to their home for supper. They pre-
pared unique puffed tacos that were so delicious Juan Bautista never forgot this
2
culinary experience or how to make them. This manner of making tacos or chips
is actually more labor intensive because they are made directly from the corn masa
3
(corn dough) and not from the finished corn tortilla.
In 1918, Juan Bautista visited relatives and friends in the small community
of San Vicente near Herreras in the state of Nuevo Len. At a dance given by the
town judge, Juans host pointed out all the lovely young ladies and asked, Whom
do you choose to dance with? Surveying the room from one end to the other,
Juans eyes alighted on a tall, blue-eyed, blond beauty. The judge introduced
seventeen-year-old Modesta Cavzos to thirty-two-year-old Juan Bautista, and
4
the two danced the night away.
Two years later in 1920, Juan Bautista Caro married Modesta Cavzos.
Modesta was born in San Vicente on February 22, 1901, to Jacinto and
Bernardina Hinojosa Cavzos. Her parents owned large tracts of land on which
they raised various kinds of livestock. They had nine children, all having either
green or blue eyes. Area residents called Modesta la gringa (the Anglo), because
she did not look like a typical Mexicana. In addition to her psychic-like gifts,
Modestas other talents included baking bread, delivering babies in her role as a
5
partera (midwife), and traditional folk healing, as a curandera.
Modesta learned to cook from her mother-in-law, Felipa Caro, a master of
border culinary arts. Felipa taught Modesta how to make most of the traditional
border and northern Mexican dishes: picadillo, guisos, fideo (vermicelli), calabacita,
cabrito en sangre, cabrito asado, Mexican-style rice, frijoles refritos o borrachos, and
6
tortillas de harina (flour tortillas). Felipa also demonstrated how to prepare the
soup-like pompurradocarne seca con fideo y especias (dried meat with vermicelli and
Family Life 79
7
spices), her sons favorite dish.
During the 1920s and 1930s, Juan and Modesta had six children: Rosario in
1921, Eduardo in 1923, Carmen in 1925, Mara de Lourdes in 1927, Argentina in
8
1929, and Juanito in 1931. By 1932 Juan Bautista had begun to make plans
9
to open a restaurant in Ro Grande City. In preparation for the restaurants
opening, he made the sign, Caros, that would hang over the restaurant, but on
10
November 30, 1934, Juan Bautista Caro suddenly passed away.
Left alone to raise six young children, Modesta Cavzos Caro did what she
could to survive. She took in peoples laundry and cared for children whose
mothers had just given birth and needed time to recuperate. She even cleaned
rooms in a small tourist court. The Martnez family, owners of the motel, asked
Modesta to help them manage the place, in addition to cleaning the linens and
rooms. In time, they agreed to her proposal to open a restaurant in the twelve-by-
twelve-foot motel office. Modesta installed a stove, an icebox, brought some masa
and other ingredients from home, and proceeded to make taquitos and those
Durango-style puffed tacos. Initially selling three tacos for ten cents, she
gradually introduced other menu items that included hamburgers, enchiladas,
11
tamales de puerco (four for a quarter), and caldo de res (beef soup).
Modesta did so well in her restaurant that in four years she was able to buy
12
five lots on which to establish a larger freestanding restaurant. Mara de Lourdes
(Lou) became her mothers right-hand woman, working wherever needed
throughout the 1930s and most of the 1940s. After the war, feeling adventurous,
Lou Caro decided to leave home and explore other career options than the
restaurant business. She headed for Houston, where she worked for a year in the
perfume department of Foleys department store. One day her roommate
arranged a blind date for Lou with John Day Whittena date that changed her
13
life. Whitten was working in Houston but planning to leave for Saudi Arabia on
business. Whitten postponed the business in Saudi Arabia in order to pursue a
14
courtship, and the couple married on October 9, 1949.
John and Lou returned to Ro Grande City to help run Caros Restaurant
after growing tired of unfulfilling jobs in Houston and Atlanta. Cheerful and
energetic, John breathed new life into Caros. He remodeled and upgraded the
restaurant and installed air conditioning. Yet, in spite of the fact that the restau-
rant was flourishing, Lou wondered if their future there in Rio Grande City,
with a population of only 2,243, was secure. After the birth of their first child,
John Day Whitten, Jr., on December 27, 1951, the couples concern for financial
security grew sharply. When they took a much-deserved break in early March
1954 to visit her sister, Argentina, in Fort Worth, they liked what they saw. Lou
remembers impulsively blurting out, John, go look for a place to open a restau-
15
rant. Im tired of working for nothing at Mothers!
In May 1954, they leased a building from Aaron Rashti on Bluebonnet
Circle and opened Caros Restaurant. Initial menu items included chalupas, arroz
con pollo, enchiladas, tamales, tacos de pollo (chicken tacos), and, most important-
ly, their signature puffed tostadas and guacamole. The Whittens also rented the
house in the back of the restaurant for their growing family. Their second child,
Maudie (Lourdes Modesta), arrived on their tenth wedding anniversary. A year
16
later, Mary Margaret was born in January 1961.
For a few years, the Whittens expanded their operations, opening a second
restaurant at 5930 Camp Bowie Boulevard in 1956 and a third in Arlington in
1958. The late Sid Richardson and newsman Jim Lehrer were among the many
notable Fort Worthians who loved to eat at Caros. Because of rapidly increasing
rent, the Whittens closed the Arlington location in 1968 but kept the Camp Bowie
location open until late 1985. John Day Whitten had passed away the year before
on October 27, 1984, and the burden of two locations on Lou and her daughters
proved to be too much. To this day, the entire family is involved at Caros, and they
17
still serve traditional border fare and especially puffed tostadas.
Fathers often played a dominant role in the household. When Secundino

and Tomasa Muoz Martnez gave birth to their third daughter, Dominga, it was
18
in las casas coloradas (the red houses), in La Fundicin. The neighborhood
partera, Mara Cisneros, came to the family home to assist in the delivery. Tomasa
preferred the name Adelita, but the father objected because he did not want her
to have the name of esa vieja soldada de Pancho Villa (that old female soldier of
Pancho Villa). Adelita is called the Woman of the Revolution for her bravery. She
was actually linked to Zapata, not Villa. Because she was born on a Sunday and
Family Life 81
possibly because Secundino had been celebrating the birth of his daughter a lit-
tle too much, they named her Dominga. She has never liked the name, preferring
19
Minnie, as her friends called her in school.
Minnie Martnez remembered going to the baseball games on Sunday after-
noons at La Grave Field on the North Side when she was a girl. Families from all
over the North Side came to see the Anglo team, the Fort Worth Cats, which
played there on a regular basis. But, more importantly, it was a great place for girls
and boys to meet. On one of these Sunday afternoons in 1940 Minnie Martnez
20
met North Side resident Jos Gutirrez. They started dating and married on
January 18, 1942. Jos was excused by medical reasons from joining the U.S. Army
during World War II. The couple made their home in the South Side and began
21
their family.
Fort Worth movie star Pilar del Rey (born Pilar Bouzas) comes from a flam-
boyant, adventurous family. Pilars father, Aurelio (Earl) Bouzas, was born on
August 1, 1902, in Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain, in a well-educated, middle-class
family. His father received an engineering degree from the university at
22
Pontevedra.
Adventurous at heart, Earl left Spain at the age of twenty-two (1924) to join
two of his brothers already living in Gary, Indiana. One brother, Dom
(Domingo), owned a restaurant/bar across the street from the large steel plant
where his other brother Nemsio worked. Earl worked for his brother Dom in
the restaurant and learned to be a good cook. Some months later a friend in Gary
decided to head for Texas, which seemed like an interesting idea to Earl. He
accompanied his friend to Fort Worth, where he obtained immediate employ-
ment as a cook for the Worth Hotel (1924-1930). Earl loved to play cards and
had a regular poker game goingmorning, evening, and during his lunch
breakwith the Fort Worth police at their downtown headquarters, near his
23
home on Henderson Street in La Corte.
Earl married Juanita Barrera, who was born on December 27, 1897, in San
Antonio, Texas. When her father passed away in 1908, Juanita (age eleven), her
sister Mary, and her brother Arthur moved to Fort Worth; they lived on the North
Side. Eventually Juanita and Mary, with their other sister Genevieve, bought a
house at 1407 North Jones Street and a Model-T Ford with the money they earned
working for Swift and Company. Arthur worked as an interpreter at the courthouse
24
and sometimes hired people to work as contract labor in other states.
Juanita and Earl met at a party celebrating the baptism of her brother
Patricio. The couple married in 1927. Juanita was outgoing and loved to sing and
play the guitar; Earl, a gregarious six-footer, was European-lookingin fact, he
resembled western movie star Tim McCoy. Police almost arrested Patricio Barrera
for arguing with his brother-in-law Earl. They thought that Patricio, a Mexican,
25
was bothering Earl, an Anglo. Naw, hes just my brother-in-law, Earl retorted.
Pilars brother, Arthur, was such a terror that his worried parents thought he
might be insane. They finally took him to see Dr. Ral Lpez Guerra for an expert
medical opinion. After carefully observing the boy the good doctor called in
Juanita, who was patiently waiting out in the hall.
Let me tell you something, he told her. You and I are crazier than this kid.
What youre going to have to do is start `baptizing him. Puzzled, Juanita replied,
Well, Ive baptized him.
No I dont mean baptizing that way; I mean as, the doctor made a spank-
ing motion with his hand. Lo vas a tener que comenzar a bautizar (youll have to
26
begin baptizing [spanking] him).
The Padilla and Ayala families demonstrate the central role of family in the
lives of Mexicanos. In the early 1930s, Hope Padilla Ayalas family began a tradi-
27
tion of annual reunions that continues to this day. The original clan has
expanded dramatically and now includes numerous families of Rodrguezes,
Padillas, Herreras, Hernndezes, Ayalas, and Garcas. Reunions, which attract
three to four hundred people, are usually in June and last an entire weekend
a dance on Friday evening, a Mass at 5:00 P.M. followed by a reception on
Saturday, and a picnic at twelve noon on Sunday. A festive atmosphere permeates
the picnic with face painting for children, balloons, and a variety of games. Each
branch of a family wears a specially-made T-shirt with an assigned coloryellow
Family Life 83
28
for Rodrguez, red for Herrera, blue for Ayala, etc. The reunion is also the time
to introduce new family members, exchange recent news and laugh over old sto-
ries, take group photographs, and eat wonderful food. Everyone has a memorable
time passing on a cherished tradition.
One branch of the family, the Ayalas, serves as a case in point for the
(1930) Hope Padilla (Ayala)

posing at family home at
2106 N. Calhoun. Photo
courtesy of Michael and
Hope (Padilla) Ayala.
importance of family grounded in church and community service. In 1934,

Michael Ayala attended second grade at M. G. Ellis Elementary, but his parents
became convinced that a Catholic school would better prepare the boy for
communion and confirmation. In spite of the familys modest finances, the
following year he transferred to San Jos School, where he stayed until the sixth
grade. Michael then enrolled at J. P. Elder Junior High. In 1944, he graduated
from Northside High School and attended Texas Wesleyan College for one year.
The following year, with the World War II winding down, he joined the
29
Merchant Marine.
Michael worked in the Merchant Marine as a helmsman and quartermaster
between 1945 and 1947. While he was serving in the Merchant Marine, Michael
sent money to his family to enable them to buy Anderson Grocery, a North Side
business establishment begun in 1911. After leaving the service in July 1952
Michael worked at the renamed Ayala Grocery, located at 411 E. Central. The
family purchased stock items from wholesale grocers and the farmers market
located between 13th and 14th streets near the present-day Fort Worth
Convention Center and meat from Swift and Company and Murphys Meats. Of
course they always stocked Mexican products such as pinto beans, peppers,
oregano, cominos (cumin), canela (cinnamon), and garbanzos (chick peas). They
purchased spices in bulk from Mexican Chili Supply on Belknap Street.
Considering their clients gente de palabra (trustworthy people), the Ayalas
extended credit to practically all of them. On payday, most people came to settle
30
their accounts. The family finally sold Ayala Grocery to Rafael Saldaa in 1956.
Michael later went to work for the U.S. Postal Service.
On April 24, 1949, Michael Ayala married Esperanza (Hope) Padilla at San
Jos Catholic Church. They have three children: Carlos Ayala, married Norma
Villarreal; Dolores, married Ramn Ros; and Teresa (Terry), who married
31
Charles Michael Bruton.
Hope worked at All Saints Catholic Church as the receptionist and office
manager, retiring in 1994 after thirty-three years. In the 1960s, she actively partic-
ipated in the Home and School Association (the PTA for All Saints School). In
the 1970s, Hope served on the boards of the North Side Boys Club and All
Saints Catholic School. She possesses a wealth of information on the history
Family Life 85
and people of the North Side and appears on television programs speaking
on a variety of cultural and historical topics. Not to be outdone by his wife,
when Michael retired from the postal service he began to volunteer his time as
a tour guide at the North Fort Worth Historical Societys museum located at
32
the Stockyards.
Pasacio (Pete) Martnez was another person who valued community and
family bonds. North Side Mexicanos came to appreciate Martnezs open-door
policy of help on a variety of issues, such as in the preparation of immigration
33
papers for citizenship. Despite his lack of a formal education, Martnez possessed
a keen intelligence and a willingness to help that benefited his family and his (October 11, 1936) Los
Hacheros (Woodmen of the
neighbors. Even while he was a union boss, Petes leadership qualities extended World) with their uniforms
and axes in front of M.G.
to organizing a local chapter of Los Hacheros del Mundo (Woodmen of the World), Ellis Elementary School.
Eufemio Guajardo holds
and speaking regularly at many fiestas patrias. Martnez also joined the Masons and sword at far left. Photo courtesy
of Ramon Angiano.
was an active member of the Julian Feild Lodge. Because of all these commit-
ments, Pete instilled in his family an appreciation for education, hard work, and
maintaining good credit. He was also a loving and tender father: when his
youngest daughter, Kiki, broke her arm, Pete was so upset that he cried as he
34
rocked her gently in his arms to comfort her.
Pete Martnez worked hard until the time of his death on November 8,
1950. Although he was entitled to a free Masonic funeral, the family elected
instead to have a Roman Catholic service. He was perhaps the first Mexicano
35
interred at the historic Oakwood Cemetery.
Petes youngest daughter carries on the family banner with perseverance and
hard work. Yvonne (Kiki) Martinez married John Valentine Cisneros, Jr., in
1960. After working for others in the food service business, they went into busi-
ness for themselves in 1978, renting a little house on Sylvania Avenue and 28th
Street, across the street from Mount Olivet Cemetery. With her brother Johnny as
their partner, the Cisneros opened their first restaurant, Mi Casita. Over ten years
they built up a loyal customer base, allowing them to buy the property on which
their restaurant was located. As the North Side, the stockyards, and Billy Bobs
began attracting thousands of visitors and residents to the area, John and Kiki
wanted to benefit from the boom and opened their second restaurant, Los
Vaqueros, on February 12, 1983. Their two sons Johnny and Michael have now
taken over management of this restaurant, which is located on North Main
36
Street. Without a doubt, Pete Martnez would have been most proud of all of
37
his childrens many accomplishments.
HEALTH CARE
Wesley Community House on the North Side, has been a source of support for
the Hispanic community since the early twentieth century. Among its many func-
tions was, and is, ensuring that adequate medical care is available to all, regardless
of ability to pay. In 1928, one of two cottages on the property, originally the quar-
ters of the janitor, was transformed into a free medical clinic, with area doctors
donating their services and dispensing medications without charge. Dr. C. Pearre
Hawkins treated as many as thirty patients twice a week, and Dr. W. C. Lakey
38
administered the free clinic on Saturdays beginning at nine in the morning. Dr.
Family Life 87
H. V. Helbing tended expectant mothers and deliveredmany of the children in the

39
community. The doctors and the Wesley House staff worked to raise public
awareness of a number of serious diseases, especially tuberculosis, an endemic
40
scourge that resulted in a high death rate in the North Side.
No one in any of the Fort Worth barrios occupied a higher position of honor
and respect than Dr. Ral Lpez Guerra, Sr. For almost thirty years, from 1927
to 1956, Dr. Lpez Guerra fulfilled multiple roles as medical doctor, community
leader, counselor, good neighbor, and trusted friend. During this period, he was
41
the only Mexican doctor in Fort Worth, if not in all of North Texas.
The paternal roots of Dr. Lpez Guerras family can be traced to Rancho el
42
Nido, between Len and Silao, in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. The doctors
paternal grandparents, Juan Lpez and Genoveva Valdvia, raised corn, poultry,
and rabbits, and tended orchards of apple, peach, fig, lime, lemon, orange, and
43
membrillo trees. Son Francisco Lpez de Valdvia, was born in Unin de San
Antonio, Jalisco. He eventually raised corn and other staples at the Hacienda de
Pedrito, located near Lagos de Moreno, the village of his future bride. In this rural
44
setting Francisco met, courted, and married Basilisa Guerra Snchez.
Born on May 27, 1898, in Len, Guanajuato, to Basilisa and Francisco,
young Ral Lpez Guerra entered into a traditional world shared by nine other
45
siblings.Of fourteen children, four died in early childhood. Ral was the only
46
one of the children to learn a profession and come to the United States. Upon
47
completion of la primaria y la secundaria, in Len, Ral aspired to study med-
icine at the Universidad national autnoma de Mxico. After graduating from
48
medical school in 1923, Dr. Lpez Guerra fulfilled his internship requirement
at the Hospital Jurez in Mexico City (1923-1924). The following two years he
practiced medicine in his hometown of Len, where he also became involved in
helping the Red Cross.
There are two different stories about how Dr. Lpez Guerra came to live in
San Antonio. One version describes how, following a flood in Len, as the citys
representative, he traveled to San Antonio to accept relief funds raised by that
49
citys Mexican community. The other version focuses on his desire to study
general surgery with Dr. Aureliano Urrtia, a political exile living in San Antonio,
50
which had become a popular haven for political exiles at that time.
Whichever story is true, in order to practice medicine in the United States
Lpez Guerra had to prepare for a state medical exam. A close friend and a one-
time Mexican ambassador to Italy, Dr. Francisco Del Ro, encouraged Lpez
Guerra to take the Texas Medical Board examination, which he passed with the
51
help of interpreters on July 15, 1926. While living in San Antonio, Lpez
Guerra met and courted Aurelia Avila, an accomplished pianist enrolled at Our
Lady of the Lake University.
Born in San Pedro de las Colonias, Coahuila, on May 1, 1905, Aurelia grew up
52
with all kinds of music, dance, and poetry. Her father, Antonio Avila Delgado,
encouraged his thirteen-year-old daughters musical talents and in 1918 sent her to
53
study in San Antonio. Two of her older sisters, Elisa and Evangelina, already lived
there. In 1919, Antonio Avilas premature death at the age of forty-eight led his
54 55
widow, Aurelia Vrgas Trevio, to move the rest of her family to San Antonio.
Aurelia Avila organized musical and theatrical benefits that included recitals,
56
zarzuelas, dances, and fiestas patrias. In the mid-1920s, Aurelia played the piano
and sang on an historic first radio transmission between the United States and
Mexico initiated by the new San Antonio radio station XEQ. She also collabo-
rated with the San Antonio Symphony on numerous radio performances. Her
experience in the performing arts later proved to be an invaluable contribution
57
to the rich cultural diversity of Fort Worth.
In San Antonio, Aurelia stayed with her mothers oldest sister, Adela Vrgas
de Meave, who did not have any children of her own. Assuming responsibility for
her nieces welfare, Adela rejected two suitors for Aurelias hand before finally
giving her consent to Dr. Ral Lpez Guerra. Aurelias dentist brother-in-law
58
Dr. Enrique Ostos introduced the couple at a community social. Ostos had
married Adela, also known among the family as La Ta China. Ral and Aurelia
exchanged vows before a large crowd at San Antonios San Fernando Cathedral
59
at noon on October 30, 1927.
Sometime during or after their honeymoon, a Mrs. Fay asked Ral to treat
an ailing cousin of hers in Fort Worth. Upon his successfully treating this
Cowtown resident, the North Side community of Mexicanos implored the doctor
Family Life 89
to stay. While Dr. Lpez Guerra was walking along North Main Street, he came
across a horseshoe on the street and concluded that staying in Fort Worth would
60
bring good luck.
The couples first home, located at 801 Woodland, across from Our Lady
of Victory School in the South Side, had sentimental value because their first
child, Basilisa, was born in 1929, shortly after they had moved there. It was too
(c. 1939) On the front porch

at their 1509 Ellis Street
home (Northside) L to R:
Raul, Jr., Dr. Ral Lpez
Guerra, Sr., Basilisa(Basi),
at age 10, and Aurelia
(Pichuga). The home was
conveniently located across
the street from Marine Park.
Photo courtesy of Basilsa Lpez
Guerra.
far from the clinic to be practical, however, and sometime in the early 1930s, the
family moved to 1545 North Main where Dr. Lpez Guerra had a clinic in part
of their small home. Dr. and Mrs. Lpez Guerra moved to their third and final
Fort Worth residence at 1509 Ellis Avenue, which they purchased for $2,000
61
from an Anglo doctor in 1934.
The comfortable three-bedroom, one bath, brick-veneer home, located
directly across from Marine Park, represented a milestone of sorts for the Lpez
Guerra family. Before 1934, no Mexicano had ever lived west of North Main
Street. Conditioned to stay within their own North Side barrio, Mexicanos rarely
62
ventured into any other areas unless business or work took them there.
The Ellis Avenue home also provided Dr. Lpez Guerra with ample space for
his clinic. Patients entered through a door about ten feet to the right of the homes
front entrance. Patients waited their turn to see the doctor on a first-come-first-
served basis in the small waiting room. On average, Dr. Lpez Guerra saw twenty
to thirty patients per day and gave advice or treatment, regardless of ones ability
to pay. While waiting, some patients, especially those from other barrios or from
63
out-of-town, ate their lunch picnic-style across the street in Marine Park.
The doctor worked seven days a week, cultivating lasting and valued rela-
tionships with his patients. Highly dedicated to their welfare, Dr. Lpez Guerra
made frequent house calls at all hours and in any kind of weather. Unable to
afford a hospital, many Mexicanos had no choice but to have their children at
home, and Dr. Lpez Guerra delivered many of these babies. As most of his
patients worked during the week, Saturdays and Sundays were the only days they
could see the doctor. On Sundays, Dr. Lpez Guerra examined a steady stream of
patients from 8:00 A.M. until 5:00 P.M. Only after he had seen the last patient did
64
he join his family for their traditional Sunday meal.
Mexicanos comprised nine-tenths of his patients, while other immigrant
65
groups and Anglos made up the remaining tenth. Dr. Lpez Guerras reputa-
tion as a first-rate diagnostician spread quickly and soon patients flocked from
all overDallas, Paduca (near Amarillo), Wichita Falls, Mineral Wells,
Weatherford, and even from as far as South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.
Basilisa recalled the time that a certain ladys illness had been misdiagnosed by
several physicians as appendicitis. Dr. Lpez Guerra correctly diagnosed the
Family Life 91
womans condition as salpingitis (an inflammation of the fallopian tubes), neces-

sitating an entirely different course of treatment and a welcome restoration of
her health. A practitioner at Saint Josephs Infirmary and a member of the
Tarrant County Medical Society, Dr. Lpez Guerra was an esteemed and respect-
66
ed colleague among Fort Worths physicians.
In addition to counseling many of his patients on issues ranging from rais-
ing children to financial problems, Ral Lpez Guerra was occasionally called
upon to help someone in trouble with the law. In an effort to resolve problems
affecting the local community of Mexicanos, he often collaborated with Fort
Worths Mexican Consul. Galvanized by the discrimination that prohibited
Mexicanos from enjoying an afternoon or evening of entertainment at local the-
aters such as the downtown Palace, Dr. Lpez Guerra lobbied local officials and
theater owners to allow his compatriots into their establishments.67
Like others of his generation, Ral Lpez Guerra firmly believed educa-
tion to be the critical factor in the empowerment of Mexicanos. Taking full
advantage of his stature as a positive role model, the doctor often urged his
patients to continue in their studies despite the pervasive pessimism that, in an
Anglo-dominated environment, education would make no difference in getting
better jobs. Dr. Lpez Guerra offered hope and encouragement that education
68
would positively affect lives and would open the door to higher opportunities.
A devout Roman Catholic, Dr. Guerra was active in the local San Jos parish,
which, by 1927, was ministering to the North Side community from its own new
building. Every time a new priest arrived at San Jos, he paid a courtesy call on
the doctor. As a mark of the respect and esteem in which he was held by his
constituency, Dr. Guerra often gave the grito, or traditional proclamation, at the
69
diecisis de septiembre festivities that San Jos parish sponsored.
Aurelia Avila readily volunteered in organizing the programs for these fiestas
patrias, doing her part to preserve the native culture by teaching young girls
regional Mexican dances such as Las Chapanecas, El Jarabe, and El Tapato,
while accompanying them on her piano. She also instructed her own children in
varying aspects of Mexican culture and helped them do a program exclusively for
70
their father.
Working round the clock seven days a week was exhausting, and Dr. Lpez
(early 1940s) Greatly

respected by Northside
residents, Dr. Ral Lpez
Guerra, Sr., and his wife
Aurelia (Avila) pose outside
San Jos Catholic Church.
Photo courtesy of Basilsa
Lpez Guerra.
Guerra badly needed vacation time. As soon as the school year ended in May, the
family packed the car and drove to Len, Guanajuato, to enjoy three months of
well-deserved rest and relaxation. Ya llegu a mi tierra, (I have arrived at my
71
homeland.) was the doctors triumphant and proud announcement every time
he entered his beloved hometown. The fact that he never became an American
citizen reflected his intense love for his native land. From the time he first came
to San Antonio until the day he died, Dr. Lpez Guerra remained a citizen of
Los Estados Unidos de Mxico. The yearly retreats were his way of keeping in touch
with his Mexican roots and culture and a wonderful opportunity to enjoy his
immediate and extended family in his native country. Basilisa, Ral , Jr., and
Aureliathe Lpez Guerra childrenalso cultivated a love for their fathers
Family Life 93
homeland and their relatives there.

The summer hiatus also allowed the doctor to monitor the many real estate
investments he had made around his hometown. While Fort Worth provided him
with a handsome living, Len was where he hoped to retire at the end of a long
72
and rewarding career. But, each August, the doctor and his family made their
73
way back to Fort Worth to resume their respective responsibilities.
The years of his demanding medical practice and community work began to
take their toll. In the summer of 1956, an exhausted Dr. Lpez Guerra journeyed
to his beloved homeland, this time never to return to Fort Worth. The pillar of his
North Side community died peacefully in bed on September 18 at his grandfa-
74
thers home in the same room where he was born fifty-eight years earlier.
D I E T, H O M E R E M E D I E S A N D F O L K M E D I C I N E
For most families, diet was fairly predictable: papas con huevos for breakfast, huevos
75
con papas for lunch, and papas a huevo for supper. To economize, households
bought larger quantities of basic staples: rice in ten- to twenty-pound bags,
twenty-five-pounds of flour and pinto beans, five-gallon tins of lard, and pota-
toes by the bushel. Joe Aguilera, el hielero, delivered blocks of ice to homes. El
lechero, an Anglo from Foremost Dairy, replaced the empty milk bottles left on the
front porch with full containers, often even taking them inside to the icebox.
People were more trusting in those daysin the 1930s, 1940s, and even the
1950s, people left their windows open, their doors unlocked, and often left their
keys in their cars.
Many people raised chickens in their backyards to supplement their diet
with fresh eggs and meat. Sunday meals were special, for it was the one day that
most people ate meat. Cold watermelons were always a welcome treat in the
76
summer months.
Representing a savings of time and money, remedios caseros (home remedies)
were the first aid of choice for most minor ailments. A combination of petrolio
(kerosene) and spider webs helped stop bleeding. Smoothing garden soil (some-
times mixed with lard) on a bad burn prevented blistering, while mud on a bee
sting eased the pain. Red meat applied to bruises and black eyes was said to
lessen their effects. There were two common remedies for earache. Some people
77
used a brand of medicine called Dr. J. H. McLeans Volcanic Oil. This aseite
de volcnico was warmed and applied drop-by-drop into the ear. When store-
bought medicines were not available, mothers placed a funnel made from rolled
up newspaper in the sufferers ear, then lit it with a match, causing a small
78
explosion that eliminated the earache. Families also used inexpensive and
79
usually on-hand herbs and spices for various ailments: t de hierba buena (mint
tea) for stomachaches and t de estafiate (artemisia mexicana, also known as mug-
wort) for constipation. A frightened person could chew canela (cinnamon stick)
for nerves. A drop of mercurio was swallowed to take care of coughs, asthma, or
fevers. It was dispensed a drop at a time by an eyedropper. If placed on the hand,
it would form a tiny silver-colored sphere about the size of a BB. Liquid arnica
cleaned and treated cuts on the skin. To help induce labor, parteras boiled cominos
(cumin seeds) in water, and the expectant mother drank the resulting infusion.
Another medicine available at drug stores, la ldia was a tonic used to counter ane-
80
mia. Once when Sammy Pantoja fell out of a truck in his backyard and broke
his arm, the neighborhood curandero Don Pedro Molina set his arm using the
wood from a tomato crate. He also used an untra made of axle grease to ease the
swelling. Axle grease was also ideal for burns and bee stings.
Curanderas and curanderismo (the practice of traditional healing) can be

traced back to the first Spaniards in the southwest. A set of folk beliefs,
rituals, and practices, curanderismo addresses the physical, social, psychological,
and spiritual needs of the patient. The forms vary from region to region, but
the principles are the same: it is a holistic medicine addressing the mind
and the body; methods are passed from generation to generation, reassuring
the patient and reinforcing cultural beliefs, as well curing the ailment.
Curanderas believe their ability to heal comes from God and that it is Gods
will whether or not a person is healed. They often do not charge for their
services, but clients gratefully leave offerings of food or money on the altar
of the particular saint that serves as intermediary for the curandera. Other
examples of the curanderas art include warm horse manure on broken bones
and a combination of vinegar, potatoes, and mud to break a fever.
Neighborhood curandera Ramona Cerda prayed over the sick and rubbed a
fresh egg over the entire body to draw out the heat (and the bad spirit). The
Family Life 95
egg was placed under the afflicted persons bed and several minutes later was
81
removed, fully cooked.
The curandera challenges the normal role of women in Hispanic cultures, as
she displays confidence, courage, and learning instead of being submissive and
passive. Although the practice is fading today, there are still curanderas in many
communities.
Marysol Garza is not a typical traditional curandera, but her longtime spiritu-
al consulting business nevertheless offered her clients many of the benefits of tra-
ditional folk healing. Born and raised in Monterrey, Nuevo Len, Garza was the
daughter of rancher Rafael Garza Gutirrez and Ofelia Saldivar. When she was
a small child, Marysol realized she had certain gifts that set her apart from
other girls. She kept this a secret from her parents fearing that they would not
understand her peculiar gifts but was surprised to find that her parents actually
encouraged her once they knew of her abilities. At the age of sixteen, they sent
Marysol to study part of each day with Alicia Casso, a distant cousin of Marysols
father. Under the tutelage of Ta Alicia, Marysol worked from 10:00 A.M. to 6:00
P.M. learning exorcism, black magic, tarot card reading, and divining by crystal
balls, water, tobacco leaves, smoke, wind, air, and noise. For example, water reading
discerns spirits through the movement of water in a small glass container. Marysol
said that methods such as this harmonize her energies and permit her to see
82
beyond the normal human scope.
On May 17, 1964, Marysol married in Monterrey and eventually had two
sons and two daughters. She helped support her family by tailoring mens
clothes and creating bridal dresses. In 1970, the family left Monterrey in hope of
a better life in San Antonio. They spent four years in San Antonio
but never formed close ties with their neighbors. This lack of community and
the promise of a better life farther north led the family to move to Fort Worth
83
in 1974.
Marysols husband strongly disapproved of her powers, causing her to
practice her special gifts secretly without her husbands knowledge. The marriage
ended in divorce. She believed that she had a God-given mission and that it was
important to serve the people who needed her gifts. In Fort Worth she began a
small spiritual consulting business, maintaining a presence in the same
Hemphill neighborhood for fourteen years. Here she counseled clients on
a variety of concerns: marriage and relationships, feelings of inadequacy and
inferiority, sicknesses, nervousness, insecurities, emotional pressures, and
depression. Consulting time varied according to the individuals need and the
ultimate achievement of peace of mind. Sometimes, hours passed and Marysol
was so engrossed with counseling a client that she forgot about food and other
84
personal needs.
She also had expertise in sensitive issues of love and jealousythe lack of
consideration or concern among family members, yearning for the love of a
spouse or children, or the desire of an older woman for a younger man. In this
situation, Marysol counseled the older woman to give up her desire because she
has already lived and loved and the young man deserves someone his own age.
She gave this same advice to older men consumed with younger women.
Marysol also had some experience with exorcism. It was her policy for pro-
fessional reasons never to visit the homes of clients requiring an exorcism
to protect the client as well as herself. She merely made suggestions and shared
remedies for the exorcism of an object or person who could not come to her place
85
of business.
Marysol Garza also helped her clients observe velaciones (vigils) dedicated to
various saints, principally: Santa Marta, to overcome the impossible; Santa
Brbara, to tame a rebellious nature; and San Antonio, to attract a sweetheart or
86
find a spouse.
She recommended the use of votive candles to petition for ones own health
or the health of a loved one; for special petitions to God; and to dedicate prayer or
thanks to Jesus or other saints and spirits. To ward off evil spirits or hexes, she used
the candle with the Ten Commandments, the Star of David, or the 10,000 virgins
imprinted on its side. The colors of the votive candles are significant and are to be
used on specific days to symbolize such powers as God Almighty, the sun, the blood
of Christ, or the occult. Candles in the form of nude human figures of both sexes
87
represented the desire for love, a satisfying relationship, or a successful marriage.
Clients often sought Marysol to conduct ruedas espirituales (sances) to com-
Family Life 97
municate with the dead, especially with a relative or friend who died violently; to
ask pardon for past wrongs, faults, or sins; to attain peace of mind on a particular
88
issue; and to eradicate bouts of extreme nervousness or uneasiness. Sessions
could last up to six hours, and Marysol witnessed many surprises and unforeseen
89
situations during sances.
For example, a few of her clients wished to communicate with the long-
dead Mexican revolutionary General Pancho Villa to ask his advice on certain
matters. Their reason for consulting the wily general was his great strength
of spirit and his aura of domination, confidence, and self-assurance.
Marysol believed that more people are turning to traditional medicine and
herbal cures because they appreciate the natural approach as opposed to the
approach of medical doctors (see Appendix D). While Mexicanos and Mexican-
Americans constituted the bulk of her clientele, Marysol found that other races
came to her for help. Anglos, blacks, Vietnamese, East Indians, and even seven
Frenchmen came on a regular basis to seek herbs and advice (using tarot cards)
on how to improve their lives and what crucial decisions to make with respect to
90
their businesses, love life, and their children.
Reading tarot cards was the primary method of her consultancy. Marysol
recalled the time that an Anglo doctor visited her because he was troubled about
something and wished to consult the tarot cards. After looking at his cards,
Marysol told the doctor that several friends would soon invite him on a fishing
trip to the Gulf Coast. She predicted that while driving to the coast, they would
be involved in an accident in which all would be seriously injured and the doctor
would be killed. She advised the doctor not to go. A few weeks later, several of the
doctors close friends invited him to go on a fishing expedition. On the day they
came to pick him up, the doctor remembered Marysols prediction and declined
to go at the last minute, pleading a forgotten surgical appointment. There was,
indeed, a terrible accident and the men were seriously injured.
Marysol was surprised one day when three dozen roses were delivered to
her place of business. At first, the mystic was overwhelmed because she did not
know who could be sending her such an obvious token of affection. Who am
I to be receiving such a splendid gift? I am just a simple, humble person who
does not deserve this kind of attention. When she read the attached thank-you
note, Marysol realized that what she had predicted had in fact happened, and
91
the doctor was profoundly grateful to her for having saved his life.
Chapter 5
R ELIGION
AND E DUCATION
Whether it was the North Side, La Fundicin, La Corte, El TP, or La Loma, most of
Fort Worths barrios were served by institutions that helped to define, unite, and
motivate their residents. Churches and schools helped Mexicanos adjust to a
strange new land and culture. They gave them hope, comfort, jobs, and a new
identity in Fort Worth. The Roman Catholic Mission of San Jos, the Methodist
Churchs Wesley Community Center, the Presbyterian Mexican Mission, and
other smaller missions scattered wherever there was a Mexican population
looked after the spiritual needs of the community and also provided support ser-
vicesfood and clothing distribution, health clinics, kindergarten, English classes,
sewing, and other useful crafts. They also offered Americanization programs, orga-
nized sports, and childrens programs.
These institutions subtly molded and transformed the character, views, and
values of this first immigrant generation. The next generation of Mexican Texans,
unfamiliar with the mores of the old country, attended American schoolseither
public or parochialand learned American values. Jovita Gonzalez, a Mexican
American folklorist from South Texas, stated in the late 1920s that:
Young Texas Mexicans are being trained in American [schools].

Behind them lies a store of traditions of another race, customs of past
ages, an innate inherited love and reverence for another country.
Ahead of them lies a struggle in which they are to be the champions.
It is a struggle for equality and justice before the law, for their full
rights as American citizens. They bring with them a broader view, a
clearer understanding of the good and bad qualities of both races.

They are the converging element of two antagonistic civilizations; they
have the blood of one and have acquired the ideals of the other.1
S A N J O S C AT H O L I C M I S S I O N
At the turn of the twentieth century, many of the immigrants pouring into North
Texas not only from Mexico but also from southern and eastern Europe were
Catholic. Catholic priests had been celebrating Mass and delivering the
Sacraments to believers scattered throughout the plains of North Central Texas
since the 1860s. Around 1870 several Fort Worth area families established a
chapel on the Thomas Carrico homesteadthe genesis of Fort Worths first
Catholic parish, St. Patricks Cathedral.2 But by 1900 church officials were
increasingly concerned about the spiritual needs of the laborers who settled north
of the Trinity River. Fort Worths second Catholic parish, All Saints Catholic
Church, organized in the spring of 1902, grew out of this concern.
Mrs. H. A. (Annie) Mulholland hosted the first Mass, celebrated by Father
Campbell, in her home at 1305 North Commerce Street. The Mulhollands and
twelve other families selected a site at the northeast corner of Northwest 20th
Street and North Houston Avenue3 and began to raise funds to construct a wood-
frame building. The church was dedicated in 1903 and served the needs of its
English-speaking parishioners until December 1952, when a modern and much
larger brick-veneer facility replaced it.4
But there was no church for the increasing number of people from Mexico
and the Southwest who spoke little or no English. All Saints parish decided to
dedicate a chapel to serve the Spanish-speaking community of the North Side.5
In 1909 the Mission Chapel of San Jos opened, possibly in a building behind the
main church.6 By 1919 the mission had relocated about four blocks east of All
Saints, on the southeast corner of Northwest 14th and North Commerce streets.
For the next thirty-six years, San Jos, under the supervision and guidance of the
Claretian7 order of priests, cared for the physical, educational, and spiritual needs
of North Side Mexicanos.8
The Claretians had been serving North Texas Mexicanos since 1902 when
priests began to travel to the mining camps between Weatherford and Mineral
Religion and Education 101
Wells and to the agricultural fields scattered throughout North Texas. They
offered Mass early in the morning so the field workers could be at their jobs on
time. The priests also established itinerant schools to teach reading, writing, and
religion to the workers children during the day. Impressed with the Claretians
missionary work, the Most Reverend Joseph P. Lynch, Bishop of Dallas, invited
them to minister to the Mexicanos in Fort Worths North Side beginning in June
1926. In a May 18, 1942, letter to Father Camillo Torrente, Bishop Lynch recalled
the history of the Claretians in his diocese.
. . . in 1926, I invited Father [Andrew] Resa, then Provincial of the

American Province, to take over the Mexican parish of San Jose [sic],
in North Fort Worth. To minister to this charge, the provincial sent
Reverend Eugene Herran [sic], a most energetic and self-denying
missionary . . . . Under the jurisdiction of these Fathers a suitable rec-
tory was constructed and a parochial school founded. 9
Not many years after taking charge of the San Jos mission, Father Eugenio
Herrn and his assistant, Father Miguel Noval, recognized that the congregation
was rapidly outgrowing the original wooden structure built in 1919.10 Fundraising
began in earnest and on June 16, 1930, the old wood-frame building was demol-
ished; groundbreaking ceremonies for the new church were held on June 29.
The blessing and dedication of the new churcha Gothic design construct-
ed of brick and tiletook place on October 26, 1930. An overflow crowd turned
out for the historic event. Bishop Lynch officiated and the Very Reverend Father
Eustace Flamenco, C.M.F., of Los Angeles, provincial of the Claretian Missionaries,
preached the sermon.11 After four years Father Herrn transferred to a parish in
San Antonio, and the Reverend Sebastian Ripero succeeded him at San Jos.
San Jos parishioners were proud of their new church and worked hard to
sustain itraising money, supporting activities, or maintaining the building.
Those who had no money to give in la colecta helped the church by doing volun-
teer work; some cleaned the church every week. The Holy Name Societythe
parish mens clubworked to take care of the physical needs of San Jos, making
repairs, constructing sidewalks, and painting. Longtime member Michael Ayala
recalled that the Claretian priests had the knack of making it seem as if it were
your idea, and ultimately it was, for the entire North Side community benefited
from the improvements.12 Society members included Michael Ayala, Ramn
Anguiano, Juan Prez, Flix Narvez, Sisto Herrera, Domingo Martnez, Vincent
Martnez, Andrs Morales, Vincent Prez, Francisco (Paco) Cruz, Alfonso
Rodrguez, and Gus Gmez, to name but a few. The mens club met monthly for
early Sunday morning Mass followed by a hearty breakfast. They helped in the
jamaicas (festivals usually held in the summer on Sunday evenings and on
Mexico's patriotic holidays), setting up and manning booths, selling drinks, raspas
(snowcones), and running the bingo games. Their wives helped decorate and pre-
pared a variety of Mexican foods to sell. The society also organized and partici-
pated in the annual Christmas posada. The money raised at these events helped
defray the costs of maintaining San Joss physical plant.13
The club for women, Corazn de Mara, met regularly in the basement hall.
One of its main functions was to organize pilgrimages. In gratitude for answered
prayers, the faithful made promesas to visit the Virgin Mary at several sites in Texas
and Mexico. The most popular regional destination was Virgen de San Juan locat-
ed in San Juan, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Members of Corazn de
Mara also liked to visit the Baslica de la Virgen de Guadalupe in Mexico City and
San Juan de los Lagos, about ninety miles northeast of Guadalajara in the state of
Jalisco. Opportunities for sightseeing allowed pilgrims to re-acquaint themselves
with their former patria and gain a new appreciation of their cultural roots.14
During the years of the World War II and the Korean Conflict, many relatives of
servicemen made promesas15 to the Virgen for the safe return of their loved ones.
Juanita Rodrguez, the mother of Rudy, the owner of Rodrguez Festive
Foods, organized many of these trips. To raise money for the club and for the pil-
grimages, members made and sold tamales just before Christmas. Anita Reza
served as president of the organization that included such members as Margarita
Prez, Julia Padilla, Francisca Rico, Mara Ortiz Ayala, and Juanita Rodrguez.16
SAN JOS SCHOOL
The sisters of Saint Mary of Namur also operated San Jos School on the North
Side. The principal of St. Joseph School during the 1930s and 1940s, Sister
1946 school photo taken on

the side of San Jos Church.
Lawrencia, SSMN, took a special interest in Mexicanos. In a 1984 interview cele- L to R: Michael Medrano,
Alice Berber, Mario Trujillo
brating her retirement, Sister Lawrencia expressed her affection for her former (partially
hidden), Sister Lawrencia,
students, I love those Mexican . . . . I do. Im a gringo myself, but they dont think Margarito Padilla, Jr.,
Raquel Trujillo (face turned),
of me as a gringo. I love them. They know that deep down, Im a Mexican.17 Angelo Ayala, and Daniel
Trujillo. Photo courtesy of
Sister Lawrencia was resourceful in obtaining badly needed supplies. She orga- Michael and Hope (Padilla)
Ayala.
nized the yearly Good Fellow program that helped needy families during
Christmas. Little girls received a doll and a bag of candies, while little boys col-
18
lected a toy car or truck and a bag of candies. On occasion she would schedule
all-day picnics for the children at Forest Park and didnt hesitate to ask Swift and
Company for hot dogs and Mrs. Bairds Bakery for the buns. Because most of the
school children were poor and in need of particular items of clothing, she often
went on shopping trips on their behalf. Taking the streetcar to the downtown
district, the determined nun went from store to store, especially Leonard
Brothers, asking for shoes and clothing for her poor students. Her earnest and
persistent demeanor made it difficult for any merchant to refuse her. Sister
Lawrencia also persuaded wealthy individuals to donate money for the children
and the school. CBS News anchor Bob Schieffers father-in-law, Neville G.
19
1949 Champion San Jos Penrose, became a major benefactor of San Jos as a result of the good sisters
Football Team. First row
20
sitting L to R: Benny public relations abilities.
Soto Mercado, Alfred Uranga,
Jesse Galvn, and Mike There were few extracurricular activities in the early days and the nuns
Borbolla. Second row
kneeling: Arturo Garca, received virtually no salaryonly the twenty-five cents per child per month for
Romn Soto Mercado, Jesse
21
Ayala, Gilbert Ruiz, and tuition. After Father Celestino Iglesias raised enough money to purchase the
Frank Lpez. Third row
standing: Jesse Aguirre, necessary equipment, students like Romn Soto Mercado were able to play foot-
Father Antonio Bandrs,
C.M.F., and Rudy Herrera. ball. San Joss team competed well against area Catholic schools like St. Ignatius,
San Jos Church and School
22
can be seen in the back- St. Marys, and St. Alice. They also played in the Dallas city championships.
ground. This hardy team
earned the championship From its establishment as a mission in 1908 to 1955 when it was absorbed
three years in a row1948,
1949, and 1950. Photo courtesy into All Saints Catholic Church, San Jos was central to the process of building
of Benny Soto Mercado.
community among the residents of the North Side. The Claretian fathers united
the Mexicanos, ministering to their spiritual and temporal needs until 1992
when the Franciscans took charge. Generations of Mexicanos and Mexicanas
were baptized, confirmed, taught, married, counseled, and buried thanks to the
selfless service of the Claretian order.
THE WESLEY COMMUNITY HOUSE
In 1908, with so many foreign newcomers making their homes on the North Side,
local Methodist Church officials decided to establish a mission dedicated to serv-
ing the needs of this growing community of seventeen nationalities.23 The Wesley
Community House was opened as a settlement house with a Christian orienta-
tion. It mirrored a national pattern of similar institutions. In 1889 the first
settlement houses made their dbut on the American urban scene in New York
and Chicago. Social reformer Jane Addams founded Hull House in Chicago to
meet the social and material needs of newly arrived immigrants from southern
and eastern Europe. Settlement houses emphasized programs to help foreigners
adapt to life in the United States, such as instruction in English as a second
language, American culture and customs, and practical arts and crafts. Wesley
House combined aspects of the social reform movement of the late nineteenth
century with principles of the Social Gospel movement,24 which motivated many
Christians to take a more active role in addressing the physical needs of the less
fortunate members of society. A 1930s report summed it up:
A settlement house, such as the Wesley Community House, is

able to mean much to the people because the workers live among them
as neighborsvisit in the homes, come to know the deepest needs, and
gain their confidence, so that they are constantly called upon, day and
night, for counsel and assistance in all types of situations pertaining to
individuals and family life.25
The City Mission Board, composed of area Methodist pastors, appointed

Miss Lillie G. Fox as part-time director. In a rented four-room house on the
North Side that also served as her home, Miss Fox organized and supervised
weekly sewing classes and Sunday afternoon religious services for people of
various nationalities.26 By 1911 the ministry had expanded to the point that it
required the services of a full-time director, and its supervisory council, the
Womens Council of Southern Methodism, appointed Miss Eugenia Smith dea-
coness to oversee the North Side mission full-time.27 Deaconess Smith prompt-
ly rented a house to serve as her home and a temporary center for her ministry,
but the need for a permanent center soon became evident.28 In 1913 the board
purchased a lot at 2131 North Commerce, in the heart of the North Side, on
which to build the first permanent facility, described in an unpublished history
of the Wesley House.
The building was two stories high and had twelve rooms. The
upstairs housed the workers and contained bedrooms, a living room,
kitchen, dining room, bath, hall, and porch. A large sleeping porch on
the south was added later. Downstairs there were the office, assembly
room, club and class rooms, all used for the community work.
A few years later the Wesley House workers felt that they must
have a playground for their children. For this purpose two lots were
Wesley Community House,

circa 1920. Photo courtesy of
Wesley Community House.
bought, the cotteges [sic] which were located on these lots were
moved, and a playground begun.29
One of Deaconess Smiths first efforts was to organize and direct the Sunday
school, which quickly grew from only two boys on the first day. Attendance the
following three weeks increased to seven, fourteen, and twenty-nine.30
Referring back to these years, an early 1940s report commented on the
background and spiritual condition of Mexican immigrants:
These people had come to Texas to make their homes, unfamiliar

with the laws, customs and language. Especially the Mexicans had come
from a country in which they were virtually poverty-stricken, looking
for work. Also many of them had broken from the Catholic Church,
which had kept them in ignorance and poverty, and they really had no
religion. These things appealed to the women of our Methodist
Churches, and they felt they wished to help in this situation.31
In 1914, using Wesley Houses front porch as a speaking platform, Reverend

Dennis Macune of the Boulevard Methodist Church led a small North Side con-
gregation in song and worship. Twelve people were converted and the Mexican
Methodist Church was formally organized. Deaconess Smith gave the following
description of the founding of the church:
Juan los Santos joined with us and was licensed to preach and
became our first pastor. Following him, Benito Hernndez was convert-
ed, licensed to preach, and became our second pastor. Reverend
Eugenio Vidaurri was also licensed to preach and is now my pastor in
Houston. In 1921 we bought the old corner saloon that had been such
a menace to the community and tore it down and built a Church on the
same spot, using the heavy lumber from the old in the new building.32
On April 11, 1914, the building was formally inaugurated as the Jerome
Duncan Wesley House, after the presiding elder of the Fort Worth District at the
time the facility was planned in 1911. After 1919 two other small buildings were
added at the back of the original lot. One of these served as the Goodwill
Industries center from 1927 to 1931. People could purchase clothing items for a
nominal amount or in exchange for work. However, club activities required more
space, and Goodwill moved out after 1931. A 1940s report recorded:
The used clothing which is sent in, we do not hand out, for our
people do not expect it, and there are other relief agencies in the City.
We have rummage sales, which our people eagerly attend, and while
the things are sold for a very small sum, they feel they are paying for
them. We try always to avoid doing anything which might pauperize.33
Wesley Community House,

circa 1930. Staff distributing
coats to a waiting crowd.
Photo courtesy of Wesley
Community House.
Young boxer taking

advantage of Wesley
Community Houses
popular sports programs,
circa 1950. Photo courtesy of
During the 1930s the Wesley House operated with an annual budget of
$7,000, raised from voluntary contributions by the Womens Missionary Council
and other area Methodist missionary societies. The Fort Worth Community
Chest also took notice of the centers charitable work and began substantial
yearly contributions.34 Every dollar was put to good use by a dedicated staff that
usually consisted of a director, kindergarten instructor, club coordinator, visit-
ing helper, janitor, and housekeeper. In addition to dispensing food, shelter,
clothing, fuel, medical help and supplies, and family counseling, the Wesley
House also initiated and maintained a daily schedule of various activities for all
ages. (See Appendix B) Over the years volunteers, eventually as many as forty
each week, came from various area churches, the Junior League, Texas Wesleyan
College, Texas Christian University, and other civic organizations, and gave
generously of their time and talents to help those in need.35
Furthermore, Mexicanos, or any other immigrant group who faced hunger,
homelessness, lack of clothing, sickness, unemployment, despair, or domestic
problems, could find help at the Wesley House. Education, recreation, advice on
hygiene, nutrition, or child raising were all available to a North Side population
estimated to be approximately four to five thousand.36
In addition to its social services and it popular sports programs, Wesley
House also sponsored other activitieswoodworking and scouting were
especially popular with boys, sewing and scouting for girls.37 Wesley House
sponsored a variety of programs for girls that reflected traditional values and
domestic skills. Members of the Girl Reserve Club learned to sew their own uni-
forms, for example. One of the most popular and well-attended programs, the
sewing school, offered classes for all age groups. The total number of girls
enrolled at Wesley House was eighty, and approximately fifty-five of this eighty,
aged six to thirteen, met on Wednesday afternoons. The following is a brief
description of their activities:
Last year the girls six years old made gowns, and the ones seven
and eight years old made aprons and bloomers. In addition, the eight
year olds made slips. The girls from nine to thirteen years made
dresses with the younger girls making more simple dresses. The
Wesley House furnished all of this material. It would be impossible
to conduct this sewing school without volunteer helpers. The class
had fourteen teachers most of whom were Texas Womens College
girls and women from the different missionary societies of the city.
From five to five thirty this class had a devotional period which was
conducted by T.W.C. girls.38
The Mothers Club met every Monday afternoon from two-thirty to four to
make elaborate quilts and linens that they sold for less than a dollar to any mother
who wanted one. Sometimes they participated in musical programs or heard lec-
tures covering health, hygiene, and other relevant domestic topics.39 Some
women took this opportunity to learn to read English or Spanish. In the mid-
1930s the wife of the Mexican Consul assisted the Wesley House by teaching the
Spanish class. The class relied on a textbook used in schools throughout Mexico
entitled Learn One, Teach One.40
The Wesley House, with the Central Methodist Church, sponsored a chap-
ter of the Campfire Girls. Fees and dues were underwritten by the sponsoring
agencies, ensuring wider participation. Campfire Girls met on Monday afternoons
for singing, storytelling, crafts, and games. They also shared in devotionals con-
sisting primarily of Biblical stories that underscored character-building traits.41
In its amazing variety of program offerings, Wesley House did not overlook
the importance of musical instruction. A lay volunteer, Mrs. Pat Matthews, orga-
42
nized and directed a choral club for girls and boys that met Tuesday evenings.
Mrs. Matthews also offered music lessons on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and
Saturdays. Instructors, like Alice De Len Contreras, volunteered their time to
teach approximately twenty women and children, who took full advantage of
43
these free piano and voice classes. Miss Contreras did so well that she earned a
44
piano scholarship at Texas Womens College. She later returned to volunteer
her services to Wesley House. A 1940s report acknowledged the bitter contrast
between the preparation that the young received and the circumstances that
Mexicanos encountered in the surrounding communities:
We have a number of splendid boys and girls equipped and ready

for work, but I am sorry to say that through this section prejudice is
very strong, and our hearts are hurt many times when we see them
deprived of positions, proper hospitalization care, and other advantages
which they deserve. However, we are feeling better about this for we feel
45
in many ways this is being broken downthough it is very gradual.
Although monthly attendance during the early 1930s was around 1,600
persons, Wesley Houses impact in the community grew to be widespread and
profound. Mexican immigrants who had lived on the North Side for years finally
took the initiative to learn to read and write English, either at Wesleys night
school or with a volunteer worker, to help them prepare and apply for United
States citizenship.46 The history of the Wesley House reported that The night
classes in English have been a bright spot in the work especially as the mothers
have declared to their families their determination not to be shut out of many
things because of the language barrier.47
All of these activities which the Wesley House sponsors are spon-
sored in order that the Mexicans may become better American citizens.
By their advice and help the Wesley House serves as a friend to the
Mexican. The Wesley House is the open door to American life for the
Mexicans.48
The Wesley Community House operated at the North Commerce location

for almost sixty years. At the end of World War II new attitudes led to a gradual
easing of property restrictions affecting minorities, and Mexican Americans began
to live outside their traditional enclaves. This demographic shift became the sub-
ject of concern to the Wesley staff by the mid1950s:
The question that we had to take care of first was whether

or not Wesley House would stay in this location. Even our board won-
dered as to the advisability of stay [sic] here. In a study of the problem,
we couldnt help but think about a question asked of us by the Local
Board of Education. They asked our help in the language problem
because so many of the Latin-American children were failing in the
public schools. Spanish is spoken in the majority of homes and the
children do not know the English well enough. We learned from them
how the Latin-Americans have moved all over Fort Worth and it is
impossible to reach them all from any one place. We decided then that
we would try to do more extension work, keeping this as our base.49
The centers concern for the continuing erosion of its constituency again
resurfaced in a 1959 annual report:
Our enrollment this year in kindergarten was not as high as

heretofore due to the fact that there were not enough children to walk
[from their homes to the center]. Our neighborhood is moving away

from us because of the fact that this area has been classified for heavy
industry and the houses are falling apart in many cases. When they
become city-condemned the people hunt other locations. That means
that the children have to be picked up. For this reason our Board was
very anxious to do more extension work in Washington Heights which
seemed to be a very promising area. With the help of the Womans
Division we were able to rent a small house in Washington Heights
and as soon as we can get it in readiness, we hope to carry on more
girls and boys work.50
In 1967 the Wesley Community House moved from its facility on North
Commerce to 3600 North Crump, in the Diamond Hill area of Fort Worth. They
raised $180,000 through the generous donations of Methodist women from all
over the United States and from proceeds of the sale of the old building to the
Pan American Golf Association, which bought the six lots of the North
Commerce property. The association kept the corner church building but tore
down the two-story wood-frame structures that had served as the old Wesley
Community House.
The center succeeded in gaining the confidence and trust of the community,
despite the fact that most Mexicanos were Roman Catholic. In fact, priests occa-
sionally warned their parishioners to stay away from Wesley House, as this excerpt
from the 1953-1954 Annual Narrative Report describes:
Mary Ann with a long sad face come [sic] one day to inform me
that she had been ordered not to come to Wesley House anymore. She
was getting ready to [m]ake her first communion and the priest had
told her to stay away from us. I told her I was very sorry, that I would
miss her and assured her that she would be welcome any time she
wished and could come back. I dont know how she managed but she
is back every day as usual.51
To this day the Wesley Community House Center, directed by Irma

Valencia, continues its mission of social work that includes childcare, after-school
Photo of Wesley Community

House kindergarten class activities and sports, counseling, and case management. Personal enrichment
graduation on the steps of
the house, circa 1940. programs teach topics such as modeling, art, public speaking, sewing, and music
Photo courtesy of Wesley
Community House. that are designed to build character and self-esteem. Until 1995 the center also
assisted resident aliens with immigration processing and paperwork.52
WESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER SCHOOL
Absorbing the first waves of immigration after the turn of the century, Americans
believed that the best way to deal with the newcomers was to teach them to
understand the dominant language, culture, and customs. Peace, stability and
prosperity would be more likely to thrive in an atmosphere in which differences
in language and culture could be minimized. Americanization programs were
designed to help immigrants become self-sufficient as well as productive mem-
bers of American society. As most of the children from the North Side were sons
and daughters of immigrant Mexicanos in the 1930s, the Wesley Community
House concentrated on curriculum and programs designed to Americanize this
younger generation. Reflecting on the centers primary goals, Jennie C. Congleton,
head resident at Wesley Community House in 1937, noted that
. . . [f]or years I heard much of the work in Mexican

Communities, and how those working there loved it. Now I can under-
stand, for I, too, have the Mexican Fever. These few months of get-
ting acquainted have been happy ones; the people patient with [sic],
and considerate of the new-comer in their midst . . . . With the help of
a splendid corps of volunteers, and other interested [sic], the Wesley
House is taking its place with the other Social Agencies of the City, as
an important factor in the building of American Citizens, with high
Christian ideals.53
The kindergarten opened its doors to all children between the ages of four
and six Monday to Friday from nine to eleven-thirty in the morning.
Approximately fifty children took advantage of the program at Wesley House.54
Although teaching English to prepare immigrant youngsters to enter first grade
was the kindergartens primary emphasis, the children also received instruction
on a variety of topics such as health, citizenship, culture, and nature. Over the
years teachers and their assistants provided an often overlooked
community service by paying attention to any illness or physical problem that, if
not treated, could have become serious,
The kindergarten program at Wesley House offered other benefits as well.
At mid-morning the children took a short break while each received a glass of
milk and a graham cracker. This small treat supplemented a diet that in general
was insufficient for the childrens proper nutrition. In addition, a registered nurse
examined each child once a week.55
The children occasionally were treated to a picnic at a park or an educa-
tional trip to the zoo, a factory, or other place of business in addition to their reg-
ularly scheduled recreational activities. Kindergarteners appreciated the monthly
birthday observances and also participated in dramatic presentations that
revolved around special holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.56
A 1953 annual report noted that the
The Christmas party is always a high light [sic] and this year the
Christmas story was dramatized by eighty children while one hundred
and forty brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers looked on.
The stage was the center of the room and a spotlight was used to
focus attention on the scene in action. A real bale of hay made the
manger scene more realistic and travelers crowded the inn while the
maidservants hurried to and fro. Herods soldiers were present with
swords and armor made in the shop and could be seen on the streets
for several days after Christmas.57
Kindergarten graduations also featured dramatizations that included pop-

ular childrens stories such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Little Red Riding
Hood.
A parent-teachers club consisting of kindergarten mothers held monthly
meetings. In addition to time set aside specifically for recreation, mothers heard
lectures on sanitation, health, the preparation of foods, and other topics.58 As a
direct result of the kindergarten experience, Wesley House workers realized the
necessity of providing additional services to the North Side community. In the
words of an anonymous staff member, the most urgent needs often included bet-
ter housing, better streets, play-ground[s] where Mexican boys and girls feel they
are welcome, adequate hospitalization for our Mexican peopleprejudice respon-
sible for lack of facilitieswe are working toward this and other situations.59
Interacting daily with the kindergartners, the teachers soon realized that a
large number of them were malnourished. It was often the case that grocery stores
did not stock the ingredients for native dishes, and local grocery products were
unfamiliar. Without their customary foods the children became malnourished,
and Wesley House workers decided to offer American-style cooking classes.
Separate classes were offered to housewives and girls. Held every Tuesday
afternoon from two-forty-five to four, the Young Mothers Cooking Class was
taught by Miss Enlow, the director of the home economics department at Texas
Christian University. Miss Enlow also supervised the Girls Cooking Class
immediately following the adult class from four to five-fifteen.
The response from the community proved overwhelming; eighty-five girls
applied for a class originally intended to accommodate only ten. In the class the
girls learned the essentials of preparing and serving typical American dishes for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner. At the end of each year the mothers class prepared
a delicious Mexican dinner in honor of Miss Enlow and her assistants, and the
60
girls class cooked and served an American-style dinner for their mothers.
Convinced of the centers positive impact, Katherine Arnold, head resident from
1934 to 1935, stated,
. . . [w]e believe that one of the outstanding results of the opera-

tion of Wesley House is the improvement in living conditions in the
homes of the foreigners that has been brought about by the teaching
at this community center. Needy North Side families could count on
the frequent charitable donations of foodstuffs from Fort Worths
Methodist community; and, during the Great Depression, Wesley
House served as a distribution point for government flour to families
living north of the Trinity River. Every afternoon from 4:30 to 5:30, two
workers distributed Red Cross flour to approximately 1,700 families, of
which twenty percent (340 families) were Mexicanos, twenty percent
were African Americans, and sixty percent were Anglo Americans. The
distribution of the twenty-four-and-a-half pound sacks of flour was
tightly controlled and was linked to the number in each family.
Records were kept on index cards, signatures were required, and the
61
date on which the family received the flour was stamped on the card.
Many people in the Hispanic community, such as Margaret Molleda, Pete

Zepeda, Paulita Gutirrez, and Amador Gutirrez, Sr., responded to the spiritual
principles of the Methodist denomination and became active members.
Deaconess Eugenia Smith, the first head resident, said it best: It is a joy to work
with the Mexicans, they make the finest, most unselfish Christians, and they are
so appreciative of every little kindness. I love them.62
LA PRIMERA IGLESIA PRESBITERIANA MEXICANA
Fort Worths First Mexican Presbyterian Church was the center of religious and
social life in La Corte. The history of this organization began with the arrival of
Pastor Guillermo A. Walls on September 15, 1925.63
Guillermo Alexander Walls was born on December 25, 1886, in Matamoros,

Tamaulipas, Mexico, of Scottish and Mexican parentsWilliam Alexander
Walls64 and Concepcin (Concha) Aguilar. In 1916 Guillermo studied at Union
Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, and shortly thereafter accepted a
position as instructor at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where he
completed the requirements for a B.A. in Christian education. In April 1919 Walls
was ordained into the Texas Mexican Presbytry and assumed the post of director
of Christian education at a church in San Benito (1919-1921). Guillermo then
came to Fort Worth where he earned a B.A. from Texas Christian University and
married Raquel Rocha on August 15, 1921. Originally from Mexico, Raquel had
(1935) Young peoples
Sunday school class at the attended the Escuela normal de Saltillo, a teacher training institute in the northern
Mexican Presbyterian
Church, 901 Florence St. state of Coahuila.65
(La Corte). Guillermo A. Walls,
who pastored here between In 1922 Walls took his new wife to Austin where he worked as an evangelist
1927 and 1950, is seen at the
far corner. Photo courtesy of with that city's Mexican Presbyterian Church until 1925. During this time
Herlinda Balderas Garca.
Guillermo and Raquel started a family that included three children: Billy, Ral,
and Elizabeth. Walls briefly ministered as an evangelist in San Antonio's extensive
community of Mexicanos before accepting similar work in Fort Worth, where he
remained until 1943.
When Guillermo A. Walls and his family arrived in Fort Worth in 1925 he
had neither property, facilities, nor equipment. Undaunted, Walls immediately
began a Presbyterian mission for Mexicanos near the heart of the city. The first
religious services took place under the shade trees in the yards of private homes
in La Corte.
A friendly, outgoing, and resourceful man, Walls quickly garnered the
assistance of local Anglo Presbyterians. Lay people such as Mrs. R. B. Rawls,
representing the local ladies missions organizations, and Dr. M. E. Gilmore,
president of the Tarrant County Medical Association, supplied volunteers,
funds, furnishings, and equipment.66
During the first year area Presbyterian churches raised $8,000 to fund the
construction of the initial mission building. On December 31, 1926, the Primera
Iglesia Presbiteriana mexicana was organized and chartered.67 The first church offi-
cials were Juan Fras (elder), Josas Balderas (elder), and Francisco Vega (deacon).
Most of the church membership came from La Corte and other Fort Worth bar-
rios, but Josas Balderas and his family traveled thirty-two miles from Cleburne
every Sunday to attend services.68
The church built a larger and more formal building next door in 1928, and
the original church building became the Mexican Presbyterian Center. The
building was soon converted to a medical clinic and kindergarten. Open weekday
mornings from nine to twelve the clinic was under the direction of Dr. L. M.
Whitsitt, a volunteer and member of the Westminister Presbyterian Church. The
center treated mainly minor injuries, ailments, and burns and supplied inocula-
tions and birthing services. Dr. Whitsitt also gave advice on health and proper
hygiene. Reverend Walls had an automobile to transport the very sick to a doctor
or hospital.69
The pastors wife, Raquel, took care of the kindergarten class, with an ini-
tial enrollment of over thirty children. The goal of the kindergarten program was
to help prepare the young for Anglo schools. Here, children took the first steps
to learn English, which would change their lives. Many volunteers, Anglos and
Mexicanos alike, worked at the Presbyterian Center: Mrs. W. L. Foster (in charge
of area education), Mrs. M. S. Gilbert (intermediate teacher), Luisa Fras (inter-
mediate club coordinator), Tefila Vega (childrens club coordinator), and E.
Luna and M. Campirano (volunteer university students). Elisa C. Martnez was
the first and only secretary of the Mexican Presbyterian Center, serving La Corte
for over fifty years.70
Donations from Fort Worths Presbyterian community and additional
funding from the Community Chest supported the Mexican Presbyterian
Centers ever-increasing range of services. Like the Wesley Community House in
the North Side, Walls ministry in La Corte followed the model of a typical
Christian settlement house. The primary objective of the center was to enable
Mexicanos, young and old, to become Americanized as quickly as possible to
function more effectively in their new environment. In view of that goal the center
provided early childhood education in English and other special services to
ensure that the young Mexican American generation would grow up literate.
English classes were also available to working Mexicanos at night. Pastor Walls
felt that a command of English was the springboard to greater opportunities and
a better life for Mexicanos in the United States.71
Instruction at the Mexican Presbyterian Center was not limited to English
and early childhood education. With Americanization in mind it offered classes
in American customs, cooking (including reading recipes in English), art, music,
sewing, and miscellaneous crafts.72 Pastor Walls was available to Mexicanos
who needed help preparing for American citizenship. This process entailed
learning U. S. history, politics, laws, and customs. Walls encouraged anyone who
wished to stay in this country to begin the process of securing U. S. citizenship
and become familiar with all the rights, laws, and privileges that come with
naturalization.
Even with such strong emphasis on Americanization, Walls never forgot the
customs, language, or dignity of the Mexican community. Throughout the calen-
dar year Walls and the centers staff actively promoted the feeling of Mexicanidad
(pride in Mexican heritage) by a variety of programs. The center taught Spanish
language classes to Anglos and to Mexican Americans who wished to stay
proficient in their mother tongue. Mexican cooking classes appealed to the public.
The center celebrated las fiestas patrias such as cinco de mayo, diecisis de septiembre,
and da de la raza (October 12) by staging modest productions that included
Mexican national music, dance, and colorful native costumes made by the centers
clients. Popular dances included Las Chapanecas and El Jarabe Tapato; much of the
music was from the era of the Mexican Revolution. Such well-loved and nostalgic
pieces as Guadalajara, La negra, Jalisco, All en el Rancho Grande, Las maanitas, Las
golondrinas, and Cielito Lindo were especially appreciated. These programs remind-
ed Mexicanos of their roots and instilled pride in their unique culture.73
In addition to classes held during the regular school year, the Presbyterian
Church also sponsored vacation Bible school. Usually held the first three weeks
of June, the program attracted about sixty to seventy-five neighborhood children
of all ages. The cost of refreshments and miscellaneous supplies for the entire
three weeks was about thirty-two cents per student. Luisa Fras, Tefila Vega, and
Raquel Walls planned, coordinated, and taught during vacation Bible school,
assisted by two other volunteersMara Mena and E. Luna.74
The Mexican Presbyterian Center also doubled as a labor clearinghouse,
where every day Walls and his staff matched unemployed Mexicanos with jobs in
Fort Worth, the North Texas area, or in the agricultural fields of other states.
During World War II Guillermo Walls became directly involved in the bracero
(hired hand) program, designed by the Roosevelt administration to alleviate
domestic manpower shortages by actively recruiting and arranging transportation
for Mexicanos, especially from San Luis Potos. The U.S. government issued
temporary visas to Mexican workers. Employers often took advantage of braceros,
forcing them to work long hours for low pay and to live in poor conditions.
Walls regularly distributed food and clothing, cared for the sick, sheltered
the homeless, and counseled those in trouble. Frequently he went to court to
interpret for people who did not speak English. He also became a moral crusader
against bootlegging and moonshining, which were prevalent in all of Fort Worths
barrios. A notorious site for bootlegging in La Corte was under the Henderson
Bridge; police periodically raided this area and often met gunfire there. Anxious
to promote neighborhood peace and safety, Pastor Walls never hesitated to call
the police to patrol the area and eliminate potential danger, and he often spoke
out against the practice. He did his best to promote safety for all who lived in La
Corte, regardless of race, creed, or color.75
Because he was of mixed parentage, the son of Scottish and Mexican
parents, Guillermo Walls was a natural bridge builder between two sometimes
antagonistic cultures. Confident and equally at ease among Anglos or
Mexicanos, Walls was a true social pioneer, prefiguring a later era characterized
by a growing trend toward mutual understanding and respect. Walls had the
ability to mingle with Fort Worth's Anglo community, win their respect, enlist
their help for his work in the mission, and harness their resources. A firm
believer in education as the great equalizer, the bridge builder urged his fellow
Mexicanos to take full advantage of Fort Worth's educational opportunities.
By the late 1930s the Mexican Presbyterian Center even had a curio shop
selling Mexican arts, crafts, and other products. Walls encouraged area residents
to consign their crafts to the shop, which also received periodic shipments from
the interior of Mexico. The store stocked such typical items as sarapes,
guitarras, jarros, huaraches, piatas, and small colorful chairs for children. Local
Anglos saw the center as a superb place to purchase interesting gifts.76 In 1938
Eleanor Roosevelt, accompanied by Secret Service agents, visited the center and
inspected the curio shop.77 According to the church secretary, Elisa C. Martnez,
the First Lady bought four large molcajetes, which she intended to use as ashtrays
for the President and his visitors. Mrs. Roosevelt also bought a few handmade
pottery dishes and vases.78
Over the years the Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana mexicana and the Mexican
Presbyterian Center have served generations of Mexicanos.79 Some came to
worship, while others learned to read and write or to fill out their citizenship
papers. Still others sought medical help, food, clothing, shelter, or jobs. The center
and its staff quickly became the heart of La Corte, providing indispensable services
to the entire community. From 1925 to 1949 Guillermo A. Walls and his wife,
Raquel, worked ceaselessly to better the lives of Mexicanos and Mexicanas and to
foster goodwill by bridging the gap between two great cultures.
When Walls retired in 1949, the leadership of the Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana
mexicana passed to his former student, C. S. Guerrero.80 After retirement Walls
worked out of his home at 401 West First Street and continued to assist at the
church. From 1944 to 1949 he held the position of Honorary Fort Worth Mexican
Consul. In 1948 Walls also helped organize Fort Worths Mexican Chamber of
Commerce. During this period he dabbled in real estate and helped people prepare
their income tax returns. He engaged in civic work, serving as president of La fed-
eracin regional de organizaciones mexicanas y latinoamericanas, an association that kept
in touch with diverse latino organizations throughout the city of Fort Worth. In
1949 Walls accepted a position at a Mexican Presbyterian Church in San
Bernardino, California, where he died in 1957. Raquel died in the early 1960s.81
SANTUARIO DEL CORAZN DE MARA
If Texas Steel Company was the undisputed corporate and employment center of
the South Side, then the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church (Santuario del
Corazn de Mara) was its spiritual base. Within a few years after North Sides San
Jos Mission was established in 1909 the Claretian missionaries saw the need to
serve the citys other major Mexican barrios. Initially they accomplished this by
sending missionaries from San Jos to administer the Sacraments in private
homes. With the steadily increasing number of Mexicanos working for Texas Steel
Company, establishing a satellite mission in La Fundicin was the next logical step.
On January 3, 1927, the Claretians purchased a lot and by the following month had
contracted to build a small chapel dedicated to Saint Ann (later to be renamed
Immaculate Heart). On July 10 of that year, the Most Reverend Joseph P. Lynch,
Bishop of Dallas, dedicated and blessed the Santuario de Santa Ana. From that
day the fathers held regular services, and later the Church Extension Society
presented a statue of St. Ann to the chapel.82
As the population of La Fundicin grew, a resident pastor was assigned to the
mission, and the Claretians began to explore options for enlarging the church. In
the summer of 1947 the resourceful fathers bought the army chapel building of a
former military camp in Gainesville and moved it to the lots next to the original
chapel. On August 22, the feast day of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, shortly after
the former army chapel came to rest on a newly poured concrete foundation,
Bishop Lynch dedicated and renamed it Santuario del Corazn de Mara. A few
years later, on December 9, 1951, the chapel building suffered $20,000 damage
in a fire caused by faulty electric wiring. Fortunately, the insurance proceeds
allowed construction to begin on a new brick facility. Immaculate Heart was

re-blessed and dedicated on March 1952.83
A contingent group of St. Mary of Namur nuns from Our Lady of Victory
School consistently helped with a variety of tasks around the church, such as
teaching catechism classes. Claretians like Father Antonio Bandrs looked out for
the spiritual and temporal interests of the people of La Fundicin. In addition to
celebrating Mass and fulfilling his pastoral duties, during the mid-1950s Father
Bandrs made repeated requests to city leaders to pave area street and requested
better lighting and police protection.84
Through its religious and spiritual mission and community-building
activities, the church succeeded in uniting the people of the South Side, giving
them hope, purpose, and focus. Just as the parishioners of the Mexican
Presbyterian church celebrated Mexicanidad, the Claretian fathers in the South
Side mission went out of their way to promote Mexican culture. The entire
community of believers encouraged the observance of all the fiestas patrias, special
church holy days, and feast days of saints with much traditional pomp, creating a
feeling of solidarity among the parishioners.
During the 1950s, Jos and Minnie Martnez Gutirrez went on various
religious pilgrimages along with other members of their South Side Immaculate
Heart of Mary Catholic Church. When Jos recovered from an illness, they made
a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to the Virgen at her shrine at San Juan de los Lagos
in the state of Jalisco. They traveled on a church-sponsored, specially chartered
bus that took forty-four pilgrims almost fifteen hundred miles to the shrine.
Minnie recalled staying at bad hotels and enduring the suspicious stares of
mustachioed old men and other natives. After a few days of devotion, prayer,
and sightseeing, the church group returned by train to Fort Worth. On another
occasion they went to give thanks for the recovery of their seven-year-old daughter
from the effects of rheumatic fever. The Gutirrezes felt that God had intervened,
especially after doctors failed to help her recover.85
Today Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church continues to be the heart
and soul of La Fundicin, providing religious services and instruction to the South
Side community. After 1961 the Claretian fathers turned over the administration
of the church to the Franciscan Capuchin order of priests.86
S A N M AT E O M I S S I O N
As Hispanics began to populate the west-central Fort Worth barrio El TP, the
Claretian fathers of San Jos responded to pleas from residents of the area to form
a mission. Consequently, in 1941 they established the San Mateo Mission Chapel,
dedicated to the New Testament evangelist Matthew, at 2930 Spring Street.87 The
original chapel building measured twenty by forty feet and had pews on both sides
with one central aisle. The Texas & Pacific Railroad donated the church bell. At first,
priests from St. Patricks Cathedral and San Jos Church provided bi-monthly ser-
vices, depending upon their availability. Claretian fathers also organized Saturday
morning catechism classes taught by Mexican nuns from Our Lady of Victory
School. In the early 1950s the original church building was demolished in order to
make way for the widening and paving of Vickery Boulevard. The parish immedi-
ately built a new structure on adjacent property and held mass every Sunday until
the current brick church was built sometime in the 1990s.88
SAN JUAN MISSION
With San Jos caring for the North Side and Santa Ana (Immaculate Heart) covering
the South Side, the Claretians felt that the eastern part of the city needed to be
addressed. They began construction of a small chapel in October 1927. On January 8,
1928, the Most Reverend Joseph P. Lynch, Bishop of Dallas, dedicated the little
chapel, naming it San Juan after one of the four New Testament evangelists. Although
it became an active religious and social center for area residents, the chapel was torn
down because it stood in the way of the construction of the North-South Freeway.89
O U R L A D Y O F G UA DA L U P E M I S S I O N
Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission began in 1948 when the pastor of San Jos
Church, the Claretian Father Aloysius S. Dot, planned to establish a center for
teaching the catechism in La Loma. Veterans returning after World War II were
eager to avail themselves of the G.I. Bill and purchase homes so they could start
families. A building boom rapidly expanded the old city limits and new subdivi-
sions sprang up north of the North Side in La Loma and Diamond Hill areas.
Mexican Americans, no longer limited to certain geographic areas within the city,
delighted in the opportunity to build their homes wherever they pleased. These
new areas to the north of the stockyards became the concern of Father Dot.90
Photo of class of 1953-54

Our Lady of Guadalupe In late summer 1949 construction on the first catechist center began on
School, Grades 4, 5, and 6.
Photo North Ellis Street, immediately southeast of Meacham Field in the barrio known
courtesy of Sister Mary Patricia,
Our Lady of Victory School. as La Loma. The center was completed on October 22, 1949, and by the end of the
month thirteen children enrolled in the first kindergarten class. Catechism classes
were taught after school from three to five oclock. The building became a true
neighborhood center, available for Boy Scout meetings, mothers club functions,
and for teaching art, music, and sewing. On December 11 of that year the Bishops
Auxiliary, the Most Reverend A. Danglmyar, blessed and dedicated the center,
naming it in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Danglmyar also encouraged
Father Dot to consider expanding the range of services at the center.91
At Father Danglemyars urging Father Dot purchased eleven lots at the
corner of East Long and Ross streets in April of 1950. On February 15 of the
following year the center moved the two blocks from North Ellis to its new
address on East Long. However, the areas exploding demographics quickly
necessitated a church with an entire range of services.92 Over 180 people
attended the first Mass held at the Guadalupe Center on October 19, 1952, with
more than two hundred people on the following Sunday.93
Bishop Thomas K. Gorman initiated the fundraising campaign by donating

$15,000 and challenged area residents to match or exceed that amount through
their own efforts. By 1955 the architectural plans94 had been finalized and a
contractor had agreed to a cost of $50,000 to build a brick structure capable of
seating four hundred people. On April 22, 1956, Bishop Gorman and the
Claretian Provincial, the Very Reverend Emeterio de la Rosa, blessed and dedi-
cated the newly completed Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church.95
Guadalupes first pastor was Father Raymond Martnez.96
OUR LADY OF VICTORY SCHOOL
Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur, the Roman Catholic order responsible for
establishing Our Lady of Victory School, was founded in 1819 in Namur,
Belgium. In 1863 the order sent five nuns as missionaries to America to work
with Native Americans in St. Louis, Missouri. Civil War skirmishes diverted the
five nuns instead to Lockport, New York. Lockports Bishop Timon, who had
been a missionary in Texas, had a keen interest in expanding Catholic activities
in the Lone Star State.97 Because of this connection, Bishop Claude Marie
Dubuis asked the Sisters of Namur to come to Texas to establish schools. In
1873 the order established Sacred Heart Academy in Waco. From there the
Sisters of Namur branched out to Corsicana in 1874, set up St. Xavier Academy
in Denison in 1876, St. Joseph Academy in Sherman in 1877, and finally turned
their attention to Fort Worth in 1885, where they first taught at St. Ignatius
School (next to St. Patricks Cathedral). After twenty-five years, the school
required more space and the sisters began looking for land in the South Side.98
In 1909 the sisters of Saint Mary of Namur purchased approximately
twenty-three acres of the original Shaw Dairy for $55,000 to establish Our Lady
of Victory School as their local base. Architect Marshall R. Sanguinet designed
the school and dedicated the cornerstone on August 5, 1909. On September 12,
1910, Our Lady of Victory School opened its doors with eight sisters eager to
begin teaching their charges. One year later the school received accreditation to
confer degrees to members of the order.99
Initially thirty-one boarders and forty-one day students attended classes in
the five-story, 64,000 square-foot Gothic structure housing a library, an audito-
rium with stage, a cathedral-like chapel, four classrooms, four music rooms,
study halls, and recreation rooms. The building also boasted offices, receiving
parlors, dining rooms, dormitories, an Otis elevator, a steam laundry, electricity,
and, in wintertime, vapor heat. An adjacent artesian well provided all the schools
water. Tuition began at two dollars a month for day students while boarders paid
$100 for a five-month session. The first group of boarders came from many
different placesQuanah, Ranger, Mineral Wells, Dallas, and Galveston, Texas,
Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mexico.100 The electric rail line on Hemphill Street
made the school accessible to the day students.101
Boys could attend from the first through eighth grades until the early 1950s
but could not board. Boys usually attended Laneri for their junior high and high
school years.102 The last graduating class at Our Lady of Victory was in May 1961.
After 1961 girls from Our Lady of Victory and boys from Laneri all transferred to
Nolan High School, under the auspices of the Catholic diocese of Fort Worth.
Our Lady of Victory still educates children from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade;
the enrollment as of April 1998 at Our Lady of Victory School was 228 students.
The sisters also teach catechism classes on a regular basis at the parish churches
of Immaculate Heart, San Mateo, and Guadalupe.
Chapter 6
C OMMUNITY L IFE
AND O RGANIZATIONS
Whether from church, school, sports, military service, or politics, Mexicanos and
Mexican Americans emerged at critical times to provide leadership for their com-
munity. As community-minded individuals, they reflected the importance of
political unity as the fundamental ingredient for empowerment. Their lives and
actions were and continue to be positive role models for people everywhere.
R E L I G I O U S F E S T I VA L S
Churches in the barrios celebrate ecclesiastical feast days and religious and
patriotic holidays in ways that provide Mexicanos with a respite from work and
ceremonies that reinforce their national identity. Barrio residents eagerly look
forward to planning and participating in these annual events. Traditionally
observances centered on Christmas and Easter and, in more recent times, on
fiestas patrias. Hope Ayala recalled that at San Jos Catholic Church during
Christmas the ritual of the posadas (the reenactment of the Holy Familys search
for lodging) is played out in the streets. The faithful go from house to house
asking for a place for Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jess (pidiendo alojamiento).
Participants also recite specific prayers and sing appropriate songs of the season.
Las pastorelas are dramatic presentations in which the people interact with actors
in the costada del Nio (the manger scene). On January 6, congregations observe
the adoration of the Christ Child by the three kings (reyes mgos) and the levan-
tada del Nio, which commemorates the Holy Familys flight to Egypt to avoid
King Herods wrath. This day is marked by the removal of Christmas decorations
1
and manger scenes.
The church celebrates the festival of the Virgin Mary during the entire
month of May. Fresh flowers, especially roses, adorn the altar and the church. In
Marys honor the more devout parishioners recite the rosary daily either at home
2
or in the chapel.
Salvador and Mara Gonzalez remember the jamaicas (fairs) that were held
every Saturday during the summer at San Jos Church.3 The Ayalas recalled that
there were also jamaicas at certain times in spring.4 The church also sponsored
jamaicas on Mexican national holidays such as cinco de mayo and diecisis de septiembre.
The special foods served at these holiday family gatherings reflected their impor-
tancetamales, pollo en mole, enchiladas, and capirotada (a Mexican bread pudding
that is made from buttered toast, layers of cheese, pecans, pilonsillocones of raw
brown sugarand orange peels), camarn seco (miniature dried shrimp), or nopalitos
5
(cactus strips) added to scrambled eggs.
Helen Soto Mercado also recalled the San Jos church jamaicas. She thought
they were held in the summer on Sunday, not Saturday, evenings. Helen said that
North Commerce Street in front of the church was roped off for an entire block.
The yards of area homes were the sites for food and game booths. Helen remi-
nisced that Ignacio Vsquez made a delicious birriaa delicacygoat meat
cooked slowly by charcoal in a covered pit (en poso). A twenty by twenty foot
cement slab in the school playground made an excellent dance floor. To help the
church raise money, bands such as Albert Galvns donated their time and played
boleros and polkas. Dances always were a great opportunity for the barrios
6
teenagers and young adults to meet and interact while mothers chaperoned.
F I E S TA S PA T R I A S
Each year the Mexican American community faithfully observed las fiestas patrias
such as el da de la raza (held downtown at the main recreation center). In October
1948, representing the Club Claret of San Jos parish, Hope Ayala was crowned
7
reina de la fiesta de la raza (Queen of the Peoples Day Festival). Other celebrations
included Mexican Independence Day, el cinco de mayo (celebrated in La Fundicin at
Echo Lake Park; on the North side at Marine Park; and in La Loma at Our Lady of
Guadalupe Church), and diecisis de septiembre (a commemoration of the day Father
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla called for the end of Spanish rule in Mexico, today the
Community Life and Organizations 131
largest of the patriotic festivals). Aurelia Lpez Guerra, wife of North Side physician
Dr. Ral Lpez Guerra, organized and choreographed the dances and Mara Luisa
Trujillo Magalln recited diecisis de septiembre poems. Children also were encouraged
to remember their heritage by reciting poems. Trinidad Mancilla and Ramn
Escojido, neighborhood elders and counselors, addressed public gatherings
where they spoke proudly and affectionately of their beloved patria and recited
8
patriotic poetry. The following poem, which appeared in the May 1948 Fort
Worth newspaper El eco latino, is typical of the kind of poetry recited for the
crowds:
Ignacio Zaragoza Ignacio Zaragoza
Es el recuerdo de la Patria ausente The memory of the absent homeland

El que alimenta la fulgente llama, Nourishes a resplendent flame,
El que nos dice con amor vehemente; And tells us with fervent love
Hoy es la fecha cuya luz potente, That today is the day whose powerful light,
En nuestro pecho, el patriotismo inflama. In our breast, love of country ignites.
Porque mil hroes de sin par bravia, Because a thousand valiant heroes
A defenderte sin temor marcharon, Marched without fear to defend you,
Y luchando por ti solo Patria ma; Fighting only for you, my dear country,
Desafiando la muerte en aquel da, And defying death on that day,
De laureles tu sienes coronaron. Your temples are crowned with laurels.
Y ante el fragor de la metralla insana, And before the roar of wild shrapnel,
Y ante fuego potente del mortero, And before the powerful mortar fire,
Surgi airosa, radiante, soberana; There arose our noble Mexican flag,
Nuestra augusta Bandera Mexicana, Graceful, radiant and proud,
Hoyando la cerviz del extranjero. Breaking the will of the foreigner.
Era que un genio del honor sagrado, And a genius of sacred honor
Llevoles por la senda victoriosa, Carried through to the victorious path
Y Laurencez sumiso y derrotado; And Laurencez was submissive and broken.
Admiro la grandeza de un soldado, I admire the grandeur of a soldier
Que llambase Ignacio Zaragoza. Named Ignacio Zaragoza.
Hoy que Anahuac bendice tu memoria, Today Anahuac blesses your memory,
Recordando tu nombre omnipotente, Remembering your omnipotent name,
Es mi canto, la estrofa de tu gloria; And my song, my verse to your glory
El recuerdo que guarda a Ti la historia, Is the record that history preserves of you,
Admirando la aureola de tu frente. Admiring the radiance of your presence.
Trinidad Tinajero Mancilla9 Trinidad Tinajero Mancilla10

(1994) Northside resident

Joe Lazo proudly taking part
in the diecisis de septiembre
parade near Marine Park.
Photo taken by author.
Every semester the sisters of San Jos directed school plays that raised
money for various school programs. On Sunday afternoon, April 28, 1940,
student thespians presented ten mini-plays with titles such as Una carta
(A Letter), Las cinco vocales (The Five Vowels), Los apuros de un nio (The
Worries of a Little Boy), and La envidiosa (The Jealous Girl).11 The short
plays were both serious and humorous, but most important, they promoted
moral and educational values. This community theater was held in the ample
12
basement hall of the church.
Every summer the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church sponsored three or
four jamaicas for the purpose of raising money. Parishioners pitched in to set up
booths, prepare and sell platillos mexicanos (Mexican dishes), and sponsor dances.
Large tin tubs filled with ice kept soda bottles cold. Flowers, balloons, confetti,
and other items were for sale at reasonable prices. Adults and children played the
13
entertaining lotera mexicana with the hope of winning one of many prizes.
R I T E S O F PA S S A G E
Families observed important rites of passage such as First Holy Communion or

confirmation with both church and private celebrations. One rite of passage, the
14
quinceaera (celebrated at a girls fifteenth birthday) did not become popular in
Fort Worth until the late 1960s and only then because of the influence of San
Antonios Spanish-language newspaper, La prensa.15 The quinceaera celebrates a
significant passage for a young Hispanic girlthe moment in time when she (mid-1930s) Funeral
wake of six-month-old
becomes a woman.16 Alvina Camarena, who died
of pneumonia. Relatives,
Mara Gonzalez said that quinceaeras originated in the rites of pre- parents, and godparents look
down on the angel-like face
Columbian Indians in central Mexico to prepare young maidens for marriage. of the child, who has been
dressed like a favorite saint
The custom has since received a Spanish Catholic emphasis and today is and laid on the kitchen table
surrounded by fresh flowers
reminiscent of a debutante ball. and candles. A professional
Anglo photographer from
Families in grief took refuge in the comfort of rituals that harkened back to downtown Fort Worth was
summoned to take the pic-
earlier days in Mexico. According to Mara Gonzalez, funeral wakes could be ture. Photo courtesy of Salvador
and Mara (Snchez) Gonzalez.
(1929) Funeral wake of little

Daniel Padilla on the front
porch of the family home weird events where families placed the deceased on a table and took
at 2106 N. Calhoun (North
Side). Photo courtesy 17
photographs of the body. She provided the Gonzalez family photograph of a
of Michael and Hope
(Padilla) Ayala. wake for a tiny baby on a tabletop dressed in a little saints outfit specially made
for this occasion. Looking down at the tiny baby were the grieving parents, both
godparents, and a few other relatives. The babys head is adorned by a
simple crown and a small cross peaks the front. White flowers and lighted can-
dles in candlesticks surround the body. The importance of these rituals is evi-
denced by the families hiring a professional photographer to document the
wake. Hope and Michael Ayala also provided a similar family photograph of
Daniel Padillas wake.
SPORTS
Ral Manrquez was born on March 24, 1918, in the West Texas town of
Beargrass, where his father worked as a coal miner. He was the second of six
children born to Aurelio and Monica Acua Manrquez.18 Originally from

Tepesala, Aguascalientes, Mexico, Aurelio married Monica Acua in San
Antonios Sacred Heart of Mary Church in October 1914. Their children are
Alicia, Esperanza, Azalia, and Arturo, all born in Strawn, Texas. The family moved
often in search of job opportunities. In 1931 they moved to Fort Worth to be near
Monicas mother and sister. Monicas mother lived on North Grove Street with
19
Monicas sister, who worked for Swift and Company.
Although Ral went to grammar school in Strawn, he attended Fort Worths
J. P. Elder Junior High, where he played football for the Yearlings. After a year at (c. mid-1930s) Northside
High School football coaches
Trimble Tech, Ral transferred to Northside High School where he excelled as a and players confer. L to R:
Fred Shook; Assistant Coach
halfback. In 1936 the Northside Steers won the city championship and went on to Mack Flenniken; Marion
Pugh; Head Coach Herman
the state semi-finals, ultimately losing to Amarillo. Ral was the only Mexican Clark (light coat); and, half-
back Ral Manrquez.
American player on the Northside football squad, which made him a target for Manrquez, who played foot-
ball from 1932 to 1936,
racist threats and attempts at intimidation. He once received an anonymous letter gained fame as one of the
fastest runners in the entire
threatening to make tamales out of him. In the final game against Amarillo, region. Photo courtesy of
Esperanza Manrquez (sister).
Rals leg was broken, but no one ever knew if it was intentional. Nevertheless, the
Mexicanos of Fort Worth were ecstatic about their hometown hero.
A group formed a committee called El comit pro Manrquez and elected a set
of officers to plan a program to honor the distinguished young athlete. Ramn
Escojido was president; Amador Gutirrez, vice-president; J. Trinidad Mancilla,
secretary; Santos T. Mireles, treasurer; and, Toms Vsquez, sndico. In December
1936 a reception, referred to as Recuerdo del homenaje a Ral Manrquez, was held at
a recreation hall on Vickery, featuring Ral Manrquez as guest of honor, the
Northside football team, and the Mexican Consul from Dallas, Adolfo G.
Domnguez, and his wife, Milla. An eloquent speaker from Fort Worths Mexican
community, Trinidad Mancilla, recited a tribute.
Nuestra Ofrenda
No es sentir profano de la adulacin el que nos guia ni el incienso con que

el sentir humano envuelve a los falsos dioses el que nos ha impulsado a organi-
zar ste festival, es solamente el testimonio de nuestra admiracin para quien con
el esfuerzo prpio luchando en medio de las peripcias de la vida ha logrado
alcanzar el trinfo de sus ideales.
La humanidad entra siempre ha sabido premiar las obras buenas, ha
sibido recompensar con la palma de la victoria a quienes sabiendo cumplir con los
preceptos para que fu creado, cumpliendo con los mandatos divinos a costa de su
exelsa y firme voluntad logr colocar muy alto el nombre de su patria y de su raza.
Ello ha logrado un jven Mexicano, Raul Manrquez su nombre suena de
boca en boca y nosotros haciendo eco del sentir de nuestra colnia. En sta ocasin,
queremos patentizarle con ste sencillo homenaje, el voto de nuestra admiracin.
Acudd a su funcin de grcia; rodemosle en sta noche y digmosle con
toda la fuerza de nuestro corazn: Ral, tu labor es grandiosa, tu hermanos te
admiran y te bendicen.
El comit pro Manrquez

Fort Worth, Texas
Diciembre 1936
Adelante juventud Mexicana los triunfos que alcanceis en el extranjero
sern lauros brillantes para nuestra amada patria.
Our Offering
It is not a simple feeling of adoration that guides us or the flattery with

which human judgments envelop false gods that has prompted us to organize this
festival, but rather it is only the testimony of our admiration for he who, with
his own strength and battling in the midst of lifes difficulties, has seen the tri-
umph of his ideals.
All of humanity has always known to reward good works, has known to
reward with the hand of victory those who, complying with the obligations for
which they were created and with divine mandates at the expense of their own
lofty and firm will, were able to place on high the name of their country and their
people.
A young Mexicano, Ral Manrquez, has shown these abilities. His name
is known by all. Reflecting the feelings of our neighborhoood, we want on this
occasion to make evident, with this simple tribute, our vote of admiration.
Attend this gathering of appreciation; let us surround him this evening
and tell him from the depths of our hears: Ral, your work is magnificent, your
brothers and sisters admire and bless you.
Committee for Manrquez

Fort Worth, Texas
December 1936
Go forth, Mexican youth. The triumphs you obtain abroad will be shin-
ing laurels for our beloved country.20
It was an unforgettable evening for Fort Worths Mexican American com-

munity and especially for one of its greatest athletes.21 After graduating from
Northside High School, sports champion Ral Manrquez enrolled at Texas
Wesleyan College where he played football for the Rams. But before he finished
college World War II broke out and he volunteered for aviation training in
California. After his initial training as a bombardier on a B-17, he was commis-
sioned a lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. Lieutenant Manrquez was sent to
Europe where his crew flew nine missions over Germany, accumulating more
than 4,000 hours. On the tenth mission his plane was shot down over Germany.
He managed to parachute onto a German victory garden, where he was taken

prisoner by Nazi troops and sent to the Stagluft Prison Camp. This particular
camp turned out to be better than other German prisoner-of-war camps; the
prisoners were treated humanely and allowed to read, exercise, and play basket-
ball. In April 1945, units of the Soviet Army liberated the camp.
With the war over, Ral continued serving his country in the newly created
United States Air Force. He flew many missions to Africa, England, Spain,
Germany, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, South America, and Japan. In 1962, after
twenty years of active duty, now Major Ral Manrquez retired from the Air Force,
a decorated military hero.
He finished his bachelors degree at Texas Wesleyan College and went on to
get his Masters at North Texas State University (now the University of North
Texas.). His new career teaching math and science and coaching at J. P. Elder
(c. 1945). World War II

hero Raul Manrquez gained
fame as an Army Air Corps
B-17 bombardier. The war
hero retired as a major in
the 1950s. Photo courtesy of
Esperanza Manrquez.
Junior High and later at his alma mater, Northside High School lasted twenty-two
years. He also taught in the adult education department for the Fort Worth I.S.D.
in the evenings. Ral retired in 1985 when he was diagnosed with Parkinsons
disease. He was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame at Texas Wesleyan
University on April 14, 1989, and in 1993 Northside High School honored him
as an outstanding alumnus. Ral Manrquez passed away on June 26, 1997. He
was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery alongside his father and mother.22
Wesley Houses fundamental concern for the community and its residents
didnt manifest itself only by providing food and medical assistance. Healthful
exercise programs for area youngsters began when two lots were purchased for
decent playgrounds. Adjacent to the Wesley House building on the north, the staff
built a recreational area for older children that doubled as a basketball court and
a baseball diamond. The playground for younger children was located on the
south side and included a sandbox and a set of swings. Supervised by Fort Worths
YMCA, a Hi-Y Club provided about twenty-five older boys with instruction in
boxing, wrestling, and tumbling.
For older boys Wesley House also sponsored organized sports such as foot-
ball, basketball, and baseball. During the fall, football practice was held at nearby
M. G. Ellis Elementary School each afternoon from four to six. The team, known
as the Wesley Wildcats, played their match games on Saturday mornings.
Basketball practice took place on Monday and Wednesday evenings at the Panther
Boys Club on Weatherford Street. A worker took the team for practice and games
in the Wesley House car. During spring and summer the boys played baseball
every Saturday morning at Sycamore Park. The following passage describes some
of the realities of playing baseball during the early 1930s:
The Mexican team does not always get a fair deal with the Anglo-
Americans, as the Mexican team often has to wait on an Anglo-
American team, but if the Mexicans are late they have to forfeit the
game to the Anglo-Americans. The Mexican boys hoped to win the
championship in the Second League City Sand Lot this summer, but
Wesley House girls baseball

team enjoying the new field,
ca. 1940s. Photo courtesy of
one day when the deaconess who had charge of the boys activities was
away on her vacation, the boys did not get to go play a game. The game
was forfeited, but the Mexicans were not given another chance to play
the game. However, the Mexicans had defeated the team which won
the championship, but the Mexicans were not surprised because they
did not win the championship. The Mexican boys had told the dea-
coness early in the summer that a Mexican team did not have a chance
23
to win the championship against an Anglo-American team.
The girls were also eager participants in outdoor sports; they played baseball
on the playground next to the Wesley House. The Girls Reserve Club consisted
of about thirty-five active members and was sponsored by Fort Worths YWCA.
They met once a week on Thursday afternoons under the direction of Miss
Melvin Morton. Members participated in a program that incorporated a variety of
games, stories, songs, parties, and other ceremonies. Hiking and baseball also
24
complemented the many activities available to North Side girls.
Coach and mentor to many Hispanic children and teenagers, Ciquio

Vsquez found in baseball a way for youngsters to excel and be proud of them-
selves. Vsquez was born in Fort Worth on November 18, 1927, seventh of the
eleven children born to Ins and Emilia Camacho Vsquez.25 Ins, born in 1895,
in Villa Hidalgo, San Luis Potos, Mexico, came to Fort Worth looking for work in
1907 at the age of twelve. He began working on area farms and ranches clearing
trees and stumps from fields. Later, in Fort Worth, he worked for various con-
struction companies before settling in a job at Texas Steel Company. Ins worked
for Texas Steel for ten years, then returned to the construction industry. The entire
family lived in a small one-room house with a dirt floor located at 3809 May Street
on the South Side. A floor, a kitchen, and other rooms were added over the years.
In the late 1930s Ins sought to earn more money as a migrant worker traveling
26
the picking (la pizca) circuit in the sugar beet fields of Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio.
As a child, Ciquio loved to join his siblings and friends in impromptu games
of baseball, played on a large empty lot on Pafford and May streets. Isidro
Hernndez, owner of a neighborhood grocery store, used his pickup truck to take
a team of South Side boys up to the North Side for friendly games of baseball.
Hernndez coached the team that was referred to as Los de La Fundicin (those
of the foundry or South Side). They played games regularly at the M. G. Ellis
Elementary School field. If his boys won, Hernndez rewarded the team with free
27
raspas made back at his store.
City-wide teams such as Los Aztecas, Grand Prize Beer, and los Motorolas, were
comprised of Mexican American players and stirred up a high level of interest and
following in the Hispanic community. Younger boys, eager to imitate their older
brothers, created their own teams, often coached by a parent or an older sibling.
In the early 1950s, a team called Los indios consisted of fifteen- to eighteen-year-
olds and was coached by Ciquios older brother, Magdaleno (Leno). In the
late 1950s, Los Morelos, also consisting of boys in their late teens, were coached
by Frank Gasca and Nicols Vsquez. Vsquez, who worked for Texas Steel,
had the money to help the team acquire baseball equipment. In a time when a
neighborhood recreation center did not yet exist, he filled a void by generously
donating his time and financial resources to provide South Side youngsters with
28
fun and wholesome activities.
As an adult Ciquio Vsquez was still a fan of baseball, although he had not
played since the late 1940s when he used to pitch for a neighborhood team.
1947 Aztecas baseball team

playing at San Angelo. First
row L to R: Frank Cagigal,
Ernest Gutirrez, Martn
According to Vsquez, he retired because the opposing teams loved him as a
Flores, Raymond Gutirrez
(bat boy), Ray Martnez,
pitcherthey used to hit the ball a lot. Years later, in the 1960s, he became
Marcelino (Chico)
Urquide, and Artemio
actively involved in the sport as a coach. In 1964 Nick Martnez, who coached a
(Temo) Cagigal (manager).
Second Row: Isidro Garca,
Little League team, announced his decision to return to his hometown of San
George (Lefty) Hernndez,
Joe Borbolla, Frank Ruelas,
Antonio and persuaded Ciquio to take his place as coach for the Immaculate
Rolando Borbolla, Paul Mata,
Tom Gonzalez, and two
Heart of Mary baseball team. Accepting the challenge, Ciquio stepped up to the
unidentified players. The
Aztecas played between 1934
plate and did such a remarkable job coaching that his teams won city champi-
and 1955. Photo
courtesy of Amador and
onships in the Catholic Athletic League every year for the rest of the decade.
Madeliene Gutirrez.
In the late 1960s Ciquio Vsquez organized the South Side Little League
seasons and teams and sought more and better facilities for baseball. His leader-
ship led to the first baseball field in the South Side and later to more expanded
facilities in the neighboring Echo Lake area. In 1978 Vsquez retired from
coaching, but his efforts to provide South Side youngsters with a solid program
in which to channel their energies gained citywide attention. In recent years a

new baseball field was named the Ciquio Vsquez Field in his honor.
When South Side kids werent playing baseball and the weather was warm
enough, they headed for the nearest available swimming hole. Katy Lake
(presently the site of Town Center Mall) was a favorite spot to swim, but it became
inaccessible when it was fenced to begin construction for the mall. Mexican
Americans could also swim in Echo Lake, just east of La Fundicin. An area of
Sycamore Creek just beyond of Echo Lake made a great place to dive and swim.
Since no one could afford swimwear, the choice was to dive either au natural or in
ones chones (undies). On hot summer days the swimming hole proved too tempt-
ing to friends who had little concern for the snapping turtles, water moccasins, or
29
brownish polluted water.
N A T I O N A L A N D M I L I TA R Y S E R V I C E
A N D WA R E F F O R T S
Fort Worth Hispanics embraced America and were eager to support their country
by volunteering for national servicefrom the 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC) to the armed services in World War II. On returning from the war some
soldiers were honored as heroes, while others faced discrimination. With the real-
ization of the importance of their service to America came an increasingly strong
unwillingness to accept the status quo of discrimination. Mexican American men
who fought in the war soon became inspirations to the community and took their
places as community leaders.
Gilberto Cant Garca, born on August 17, 1918, in Brownsville, Texas, was
the eldest of seven children of Julian and Ester Cant Garca.30 The Garcas made
their living growing vegetables, fruits, and livestock at their ranchito outside
Brownsville. Gilberto lived with his family in the Brownsville area until 1940. In
1936 he graduated from the Marist-run St. Josephs Academy and joined the
Civilian Conservation Corps, working with it from 1937 to 1940. The CCC, one
of the most effective of President Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal programs,
hired thousands of young men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five for
31
work projects throughout the National Park system. Gilberto was assigned to
Camp Bear Canyon, California, where he joined others to make a variety of park
32
improvements and fight forest fires.
The eldest in his family, Gilberto Garca felt especially responsible for help-
ing his family get through the Depression. And the CCC funds helped greatly.
After leaving the CCC in 1940 he came to Fort Worth to work for his uncle,
Alfredo Garca, part owner of American Laundry, located on the corner of South
Main and Hattie streets. Gilberto had previously expressed a desire for a better
future and his uncle was happy to get his nephew out of the Lower Rio Grande
Valley. He lived at his uncles home on Stella Street while managing the laundry
33
and began attending night school at Trimble Tech.
34
In 1940 Gilberto attended a March of Dimes benefit dance at the Crystal
Ballroom of the Texas Hotel, where he met the young Herlinda Balderas, who taught
him how to dance with passion. Originally from Cleburne, Herlinda worked in
Fort Worth at the regional offices of Montgomery Ward. The two began a romance,
interrupted by Gilbertos service during World War II. Gilberto joined the U.S. Army
and was sent to California to board a troop ship headed for the Philippines. The
ships engines malfunctioned, and Garca and his unit were diverted to a second
35
transport vessel that took them instead to Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands.
Gilberto Garca arrived in Oahu in November 1941, one month before the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On Sunday morning, December 7, Garca woke
to the sound of gunfire and at first thought it was a training exercise. Once he
realized that it was a full-scale attack, Garca began shooting at whatever flew
overhead. Back in Fort Worth, Herlinda thought that Gilberto had been killed
because four months after the attack she still hadnt heard from him. Finally, she
36
received a v-mail informing her that he was safe. Gilberto was stationed in
Hawaii for four more years until the war with Japan ended. Arriving back in Fort
37
Worth in September 1945, Gilberto proposed for the second time. Gilberto
Garca married Herlinda Balderas on October 7, 1945, at the First Presbyterian
Church in Cleburne. The newlyweds boarded el aguila Azteca (the Aztec Eagle)
38
bound for Mexico City where they spent their honeymoon.
Back in Fort Worth the couple made their first home at 1431 Elmwood,
and Gilberto took advantage of the G.I. Bill to go back to Trimble Tech. In
1946 some Anglo neighbors invited Gilberto and Herlinda Balderas to a

Democratic Party precinct meeting. Determined to become more involved and
reform the process of choosing delegates, they joined the Young Democrats,
which up to that point had been an all-Anglo organization. The Garcas met Jim
Wright who was then president of the Young Democrats and the person who
would teach them the most about the political process. Herlinda boldly advised
Wright to learn Spanish, for it would help him politically in the near future. I
hadnt thought about that, but maybe you have a point, Wright replied. In
1949 Jim Wright recognized her at a party convention held at the Will Rogers
(mid-1960s) In
Coliseum. He singled her out stating, You dont realize how helpful your Washington, D.C., at an
American G.I. Forum
39 convention. L to R: Fort
advice was to me.
Worth civic leader and
The Garcas were involved in the formation of the Fort Worth chapter A.G.I.F. State of Texas
Chairman Gilbert Garca;
of the American G.I. Forum. In 1948 Dr. Hector P. Garca of Corpus Christi Dr. Hector Perez Garca;
Congressman Jim Wright;
came to Fort Worth to organize a chapter of the A.G.I.F., an organization founded Cristobal Aldrete (Del Rio);
and, Executive Secretary
in response to the problems Mexican American servicemen encountered on Eduardo Idar (Laredo).
Photo courtesy of Herlinda
Balderas Garca.
returning home. The G.I. Bill of Rights guaranteed educational, medical, housing,
and other basic benefits to returning servicemen, but people of Mexican descent
were being denied these benefits. In Three Rivers, Texas, the towns Anglo-owned
funeral home refused to conduct a funeral service for a Mexican American
serviceman, Flix Longoria, who was killed in action during World War II. This
incident provoked outrage among all Mexican Americans, especially returning
veterans. Dr. Garca and others sent congressmen and senators a flurry of
telegrams and letters to express their anger at this injustice. Word reached the
newly elected senator from Texas, Lyndon Baines Johnson, who informed
President Truman of the situation in South Texas. Consequently, the remains of
Flix Longoria were taken to Washington, D. C., and he was given a heros burial
with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dr. Garca met with about a dozen community leaders at Gilberto and
Herlinda Garcas home to organize the Fort Worth chapter of the American G.I.
Forum. Jorge Rodela, Pris Domnguez, Medardo Rangel, Domingo Martnez, and
Joe Frausto were among those at the meeting. Other charter members included
Joe Briseo, Joe Rodrguez, Dan Daz, and Willie Briones. Gilberto Garca served
as president of the local chapter for five years and conducted regular informa-
tional sessions at bank meeting rooms and restaurants. Herlinda helped organize
what is now known as Women of the American G. I. Forum and served as its first
40
president.
In addition to his activities with the forum, Gilberto Garca was involved in
many other Fort Worth organizations. He served in leadership positions with the
Boy Scouts of America, the Neighborhood Youth Corps, the Community Action
Agency, and the Mexican American Chamber of Commerce, and received numer-
ous honors for his dedicated public service. There is even an award named after
himthe Gilberto Garca Amigo Awardpresented to an Anglo who has made a
significant contribution to the Mexican American community. His name heads
the list of outstanding Mexican American citizens that includes: Guillermo A.
Walls, Louis J. Zapata, Joe T. Garca, Dr. Ral Lpez Guerra, Mary Lou Lpez, J.
Pete Zepeda, Antonio Morales, Rufino Mendoza, Sr., Ruben Magallanes, Sam
Garca, Manuel Jara, and Guillermina Morales. Gilberto Garca passed away from
a stroke on March 2, 1993.
In early 1942 Leonard Menchaca volunteered for ranger (commando) train-

ing after completing his basic training in the army. The special unit, consisting of
210 men, was assigned to take Attuthe westernmost island of the Aleutian
Island chain. Their mission was to disable all enemy communications on the
island and to clear a landing area for a larger marine invasion force. In May 1943,
under the cover of darkness, a submarine surfaced offshore and the ranger unit
disembarked in inflatable rafts. On landing, the rafts had to be deflated and sunk
to avoid detection. In the process of disposing of the rafts and waiting for ropes
to be thrown down the steep seaside cliffs, most of the rangers were soaked in
41
the freezing waters of Kiska Harbor. One by one they laboriously pulled them-
selves up the steep cliffs surrounding the inaccessible harbor. With more than
1,000 Japanese soldiers stationed on Attu, the initial fighting was intense. After
nine days of holding a portion of the cliffs the ranger unit was reinforced by the
invasion force of U.S. Marines. The Japanese unit was defeated after ten more days
of combat. During those twenty days Leonards boots never dried, resulting
in severe frostbite that almost cost him his feet. This injury earned him an
42
honorable discharge and affected him for the rest of his life.
Salvador Gonzalez, Jr., remembers a different kind of treatment after

World War II. After he and some Anglo friends had been to a jamaica sponsored
by San Jos Church in 1948 they went to a tavern on North Main Street, where
43
the Anglo bartender refused to serve Salvador. This was typical of the kind of
treatment that so outraged Gilberto Garca and Dr. Hector Garca and caused
them to form the American G.I. Forum. Organizations such as the NAACP,
LULAC, and the A.G.I.F. began earnestly pressing for the repeal of Jim
Crow-style ordinances and for equal opportunities in the areas of employment,
housing, and education.
COMMUNITY LEADERS
Leaders sprang from a variety of environmentsthe military, sports, and

politics. The second generation of Mexican Americans had a strong commitment
to better the circumstances of all Hispanics and didnt hesitate to take respon-
sibility for doing so.
Samuel (Sam) Garca overcame early tragedy, illness, and cultural alien-
ation to become a community leader and found an organization that awards
scholarships to promising Hispanic girls. He was born on September 10, 1923, in
Quiroga, Mexico, a small town near Morelia, Michoacn, where his father Lcio
44
Garca was also born. Thirty days after the birth of their son, Lcio and his wife,
Mara Caldern Garca, left Mexico and settled in Pittsburg, Oklahoma, where
three of Lcios brothersBruno, Jesse, and Frankworked in the coal mines.45
Although coal mining was dirty and dangerous work, the pay was better than
the Garca brothers had ever received in Mexico. Sam and his family lived in a
two-room mining shack; his parents shopped at the company store with com-
pany tokens. Lcio worked at the Pittsburg mines from 1923 until 1930 when he
developed tuberculosis and was admitted to Eastern Oklahoma State Sanitarium
at Talihina. At the time, there was no cure for tuberculosis, but doctors thought
46
that clean mountain air and bed rest were the best remedies.
Lcio returned home but two months later came down with tuberculosis a
second time and returned to the sanitarium in eastern Oklahoma. In 1933 at the
age of ten, his son, Sam, also was beset with tuberculosis and entered the same
sanitarium. Unfortunately, Sams mother, Mara, also became ill with the same
disease but refused to go to the sanitarium. Despite the fact that the doctors gave
her no hope of recovery, Mara opted to return to Mexico. Two years later, Mara
Caldern Garca died.47
Learning that he could not recover, Lcio sought an operation that the
doctors at the sanitarium advised him against: he lived about a year after the
operation. Before his death in 1937, Lcio asked his brother Bruno to take care
48
of young Sam. To Bruno had turned to sharecropping in Pittsburg after
the mines had played out. From 1937 to 1943, Sam learned to drive a team of
horses, cultivate, plow, and raise cotton, corn, and wheat while attending
Pittsburg Elementary School. When Sam finished the fourth grade he went to
work for his uncle full-time. In 1943, although not a U.S. citizen, the seventeen-
year-old was drafted into the army and posted to boot camp at Camp Stoneman
49
in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Sam Garca then went to New York City where he received training as a
medical technician. He reported to the U.S. Army hospital ship Thistle, which
sailed for North Africa to care for the wounded. After defeating Rommels
German troops in North Africa, the American and British armies launched attacks
against Europes soft underbellySicily and Italy. After Naples was liberated,
the citys facilities were used to treat the seriously wounded. Those who were sta-
ble enough to travel were taken back on a hospital shipeither to New York City
or to Charleston, South Carolina. As a medical technician aboard the Thistle, Sam
Garca crossed the Atlantic Ocean twenty-two times. After the Italian campaign
ended, the hospital ship sailed toward southern France as part of Operation
50
Overlordthe June 1944 amphibious invasion of Normandy.
Sam Garcas experience in the army and his contact with men from other
regions of the country furthered his education. Because he came from a small
community and only possessed a fourth-grade education, Sam felt that he didnt
know anything about life. During his long isolation in the sanitarium and his
years with Anglo soldiers, Sam gradually forgot how to speak Spanish. The army
was his education: through observation Sam learned all the things he had not been
taught as a childproper personal hygiene, social skills, practical economics, as
51
well as an appreciation for travel. After earning three Bronze Stars, Sam Garca
was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in late 1945. One year later, he
52
became a citizen of the United States.
When he returned to Oklahoma, he discovered that To Bruno had bought
a small tavern and was no longer farming. Sam became the manager of the estab-
lishment, while Brunos daughter, Aletha, made and sold sandwiches to cus-
tomers. The business did well, allowing Sam to purchase a brand-new, blue
Chevy pickup for $1,000. Later Sam opened his own tavern in McAlester and
called it the Veterans Bar. Although the establishment generated a good cash
flow, Sam had not yet learned how to manage and hold on to that cash and in
1954 he went out of business and moved to Fort Worth.53
In 1960 Sam Garca responded to an advertisement by a home improvement
company looking for a salesman. Builders Sales and Service manager D. W. Cope
placed Sam on commission selling roofs, storm doors, and windows. Sam did so
well selling home improvement packages that Cope made him a partner within
three yearsSam was the salesman while D. W. took care of the administration.
Within five years Sam and D. W. formed Service Construction Company
(on South Jones Street), which lasted for seventeen years. The partnership was
dissolved in 1982, and Sam began doing business on his own as Approved
54
Builders.
The political climate of the early 1960s inspired people to community
activism. In 1961, with the encouragement of Louis Zapata, Sam joined the
Pan American Golf Association, eventually becoming vice-president and pres-
ident. He became a member of the American G.I. Forum, IMAGE de Fort
Worth, and LULAC in 1962. These organizations reintroduced Sam to his
Mexican roots.
55
In March 1985, Sam and his second wife, Mara, established the
Hispanic Debutante Association of Fort Worth to help reverse the high drop-
out rate of Hispanic students and to raise scholarship money for local college-
bound girls. Sam and Mara Garca have always believed that Hispanic females
deserve education as much as males. Marry a rich man was the unfortunate
advice that young women got from parents for generations. Without a proper
college-level education, Hispanic women were more vulnerable to lifes unpre-
dictability, and the Garcas hoped to impart to Mexican American girls the need
and the value of a college education. Through active fundraising, their non-
profit organization has enabled many Hispanic students to attend the college or
university of their choice. The highlight of the organization is its annual ball
(usually held in early April) where up to twelve Hispanic girls are presented as
56
debutantes.
Sam Garcas commitment to a myriad of community organizations earned
him the honor of being names City of Fort Worths Volunteer of the Year in
1989. From his humble birth deep in the heartland of Mexico to his bout with
tuberculosis in Pittsburg to his coming of age in the U.S. Army during World
War II, Sam Garca successfully synthesized all his experiences to create a bet-
ter life for himself, his family, and for those individuals he has met through his
service to his community.
Born in Eastland, Texas, on September 19, 1922, Manuel Jara worked so

effectively to eliminate racial discrimination that a Fort Worth elementary school
was named after him. His father, Alfonso Jara, was born around 1900 in Durango,
Mexico, and his mother, Mara Snchez, was born in 1902 in Chihuahua. Alfonso
Jara left Mexico because of the Revolution and headed for El Paso, where he
found work as a vaquero, mason, carpenter, and railroad worker. Alfonso and
Mara met in El Paso and married there. His job at the Texas & Pacific Railroad
57
ultimately brought Alfonso and his young family to Fort Worth in 1931.
The Jaras lived in El Papalote for a short time before moving to a rented
house on Cherry Street in La Corte. Manuel, age nine, began his schooling at Peter
Smith Elementary, moved on to Jennings Middle School, and finally to Trimble
Tech, where he studied printing. Manuel Jara began his career as a printer for the
58
Fort Worth Paper Company.
On April 28, 1943, Manuel Jara married Jacinta Rocha in a civil ceremony in
Fort Worth. Jacinta, born in Cisco, Texas, in 1920, was the daughter of Arnulfo
59
and Elena Benavides Rocha. After the death of Arnulfo, Sr., the family split up
60
when the majority of the siblings decided to go to California. In 1940 Jacinta,
her mother, and sister, Helen, came to Fort Worth looking for work. They lived on
Belknap Street in La Corte for three years, until mutual friends introduced Jacinta
to Manuel Jara. After Jacinta and Manuel married they lived in an apartment
61
before renting a house on Belknap for about three years.
The Jaras had two children, both of whom became educators: Mara Elena
(Mary) Wright, served as principal of J. P. Elder Middle School, and Jo Linda
Martnez),a teacher at William James Middle School. The year of Jo Lindas birth
the family moved to a home on the 1200 block of North Houston Street. This
North Side neighborhood, west of North Main Street, had been off limits to
Mexicanos before World War II. Mexican Americans service in the war was the
catalyst that initiated changes in patterns of discrimination in housing, education,
62
and jobs, leading to a gradual relaxation of hostile attitudes towards Mexicanos.
Manuel Jara worked for the J. E. Snelson Printing Company for about six
years before acquiring his own shop in 1960Butler-Jara Printing Companyin
partnership with friend Clyde Butler. Shortly thereafter Jara secured a loan that
enabled him to buy his partners interest and become the sole proprietor. The Jara
Printing Company operated out of a rented building until Manuel bought his
own property at 701 Pennsylvania Avenue. The business flourished until 1984,
63
when it was sold to Ben Flerman.
Manuel Jara became increasingly involved with his community. At All
Saints Catholic Church, his parish, Jara encouraged people to attend services
and get involved with church-sponsored activities. He became one of the spon-
sors of the Club Claret, later the Catholic Youth Organization. Jara became a
member, then president, and then district chairman of the A.G.I.F. He also
64
belonged to the Southside Lions Club.
(c. 1978) International In the early 1960s, in an effort to change attitudes and foster goodwill
Good Neighbor Council
convention. L to R: Civic between races, Manuel and Jacinta Jara helped organize the Fort Worth chapter of
leader Manuel Jara, Speaker
of the House Jim Wright, the International Good Neighbor Council (IGNC). Typical of his Mexican
and Harold Valderas (first
Fort Worth Mexican American generation, Manuel never chose radical activism to gain civil rights
American municipal court
judge). Photo courtesy of for Hispanics but instead took a rational and moderate approach. Rather than
Jacinta Jara.
being confrontational, he believed in talking it out and building bridges of

65
understanding with other people.
On October 4, 1985, at the annual meeting of the International Good
Neighbor Council in Dallas, Manuel Jara suffered a fatal heart attack. Because of
Jaras lifelong activism and dedication, friends such as Sam Garca and Harold and
Marisa Valderas petitioned to have a school named in his honor. On November
13, 1987, the North Side community witnessed the dedication of the Manuel Jara
66
Elementary School at 2100 Lincoln Avenue.
Chapter 7
ARTS
AND C ULTURE
As the early Mexicano residents struggled to find a balance between the security
of their old way of life and learning the customs of their new county, new tradi-
tions were formed. Cuisine adapted to more easily available American ingredi-
ents, and business practices slowly evolved to incorporate an American
approach. Fiestas patrias, jamaicas, and quinceaeras, traditionally celebrations of
Mexican heritage, gradually changed as aspects of the new culture were added.
More interaction with Anglos sped up the process, especially after World War II.
The fluid interchange of customs created an energy that found new expression
in music and art reflecting both cultures and heritages. Despite the obstacles of
poverty and discrimination, the Hispanic community of Fort Worth gave rise to
notable musicians, artists, and even a movie star.
MUSIC, A MIRROR OF THE SOUL
Wherever people go, their music always goes with them. Fort Worths barrios
swelled with music from the diverse regions of Mexico and Texas. Rancheras,
polkas, mariachi, boleros, danzones, cumbias, and Tejano all found their way into the
homes, dance halls, and ballrooms of Cowtown. The music served to reassure and
reconnect Mexicanos with their culture, regardless of what trials and challenges
they faced. Fort Worths Mexicanos contributed significantly to the legacy of
Tejano music, but American musical styles such as country and western, rock `n roll,
rhythm and blues, swing, and big band also influenced the music of the latino
communities. Names like Margarito Garca, Nicho Senz, the Jara brothers,
Claudio C. Mata, Al Cortez, Johnny Gonzalez, Gabe Salinas, Johnny Ayala,
Joe Lerma, Santos Aguilar, Ernest Vzquez, Carlos and Leo Senz, and Fernando
Landeros are just a few of those who added to the rich musical tradition in Fort
Worth and North Texas.
Claudio Cortz Mata became a legend on the South Side. Born on July 7,
1898, in Matehuala, San Luis Potos, Mexico, Mata had one sister, Dionicia.
Together they attended a primaria (elementary school) where they received their
basic education. As a young man Claudio worked as both a barber and a tailor;
it was not unusual for him to make his own clothes. He was also attracted to
music, first learning the clarinet and eventually mastering other instruments as
wellpiano, violin, guitar, drums, and mandolin. Claudio was such a promising
musician that his local instructor urged him to go to Mexico City to study at the
1
conservatory, but his family couldnt afford to send him.
Mata came to Fort Worth in 1916 and found work as a laborer for a con-
struction company building the bridge across Lake Worth. By 1918 he had
secured a permanent job with Texas Steel on the South Side. He worked for the
mill for forty-two years until his retirement in 1960 at the age of sixty-two. During
2
these years, Mata lived with his family at 3333 South Main Street.
In October 1926, Claudio married Margarita Ruelas, who was born in 1897
in Urcuaro, Michoacn, Mexico. In 1911, when Margarita was a mere fourteen
years old, she married Jos Mara Vega and subsequently had four children:
3
Sara, Anastacio, Jos (nicknamed Joe), and Aurora. Vega died, and when Claudio
4
married Margarita, he adopted all four of her children.
In the 1920s Mata headed a musical group called Claudio Mata and His
Mexican Charro Orchestra. The group practiced twice a week in the evenings at
Matas South Side home and performed at special dances, fiestas patrias, and civic
programs, including meetings of the Good Neighbor Council and the Pan
American Round Table. By the mid-1930s Mata and his orchestra had become so
popular that an Anglo-owned radio station, KFJZ, hired them to perform weekly
5
on a live thirty-minute program. The orchestra played many popular romantic
pieces as well as boleros, danzones, and rancheras until the early 1950s, when the
group broke up. Some of the band members included Pedro and Gilberto
arts and culture 157
(c. 1940s) Claudio C. Mata

and His Mexican Charro
(Beto) Trujillo from El TP, Francisco Mosqueda, Ventura Hernndez, Jos
Orchestra. Mata gave music
lessons at his South Side
Vsquez, Gertrudis (Tule) Aguilar, Florentino Rodrguez, and Rafael Jasso.
home and played with
his orchestra on festive
Dressed in a colorful and typical dress from Mexico, Matas daughter, Aurora
occasions. Photo courtesy of
6 Aurora Vega Mata Burciaga.
Vega Mata, often accompanied the orchestra on piano and vocals.
Claudio Mata gave music lessons to anyone, young or old, who wished to
7
learn to play an instrument. He taught music theory as well. Three times a week
after work, Claudio also gave Spanish lessons to the neighborhood children who
needed improvement.
Mata was occasionally inspired to compose music as well and wrote a piece
entitled, The New Freedom March, dedicated to the memory of President
John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Claudio was an ardent admirer of JFK and was deeply
affected by Kennedys assassination. Claudio C. Mata passed away a year later on
8
December 16, 1964.
Juan Eutimio Ayala was born on October 17, 1942, in Fort Worths North
Side, the fourteenth child of Eutimio and Mara Ortiz Ayala. Raised in a family in
which his brother Michael played the trumpet and another brother, Stanley,
played the violin, Johnny had a natural flair for music. In high school Johnny and
several of his Trimble Tech friends bought some instruments, learned to play
them, and in 1960 formed Johnny and the Gamblers, the first modern Mexican-
American band in Fort Worth. From 1960 to 1963 the band consisted of Henry
de la Paz (lead electric guitar and vocalist), Juan Moreno (electric guitar), Johnny
Ayala (bass), Hctor Valdez (saxophone), Hctor Cortez (saxophone), and
Raymond Cortez (drums).9 Johnny kept busy promoting the band and searching
for weekend bookings. Johnny and the Gamblers played at CYO (Catholic Youth
10
Organization) dances, at church-sponsored jamaicas, and at fiestas patrias. Like
many other bands across America they were deeply influenced by the new
electrified rock n roll sounds of such rock idols as Bill Haley and the Comets,
Elvis Presley, and Richie Valens.
In 1963 the band changed its name to Johnny Ayala and the Starlighters.
Conforming more to the image of a modern Tejano musical group, the Starlighters
included Joe Lerma (vocalist), Johnny Ayala (bass), Frank (Panchillo) Ramrez
(electric guitar), Felipe Ramrez (guitar/bass), Ruben Prez (drums), Frank Morales
(keyboards), and Santos Aguilar (songwriter, saxophone).11 Ayalas two bands
recorded the following songs on the Hispanic record label El zarape: Ojito verde
and Ofrenda a mi madre, 1961; Los amores de la gera, 1962; La paranda,
Marisa, Con esta copa (With This Wine Glass), La mam de Tarzan (Tarzans
Mother), Mi postera, and Aunque tengo otros amores (Even Though I Have
Other Loves), 1963.12 A few of these songs are included in the album produced
by El zarape entitled Los mejores de Tejas, volumes one and two, which also featured
songs by Little Joe, Alfonso Ramos, Shorty and the Corvettes, and Sixto Snchez.
The band booked engagements on the weekends across North and West
Texas. It was often a grueling schedule: In order to play in West Texas on a
weekend, Ayala would pick up band members on Friday in the pre-dawn
hours, drive to their gig, play the entire weekend, and drive back in time to drop
them off at their day jobs on Monday morning. With so many bookings coming
in, it was inevitable that there would be an occasional mistake in scheduling.
Lerma recalled going to an engagement in Mathis, Texas, where they found the
ballroom empty. Everyone was outside listening but not entering the ballroom
because era la cuaresma (it was Lent), and dancing wasnt allowed.
One appearance was fraught with problems. The band traveled to Phoenix,
Arizona, for what was supposed to be a two-week engagement; upon arrival they
found that they were a week early. As they had no money coming in during that
week, they ran up a tab at a local restaurant. When they were finally able to play
the audience didnt like the singer they hired to replace lead vocalist Joe Lerma,
who was in Vietnam. On the way back to Texas, the used car they had purchased
before leaving Fort Worth broke down beyond repair, and they had to scrape up
enough money to buy another car to get home.
Ayala recalled, We had some good times, and we had some bad times!
In 1967, the band broke up and Johnny Ayala began working in community
13
programs.
Joe Lerma came from a family of musicians, farmers, and ranchers origi-
nally from Len, Guanajuato. His grandfather enjoyed playing the guitar, going
from village to village giving performances for extra money. Lermas father, Juan,
migrated in search of work to the coal mining town of Malakoff, about sixty
miles southeast of Dallas. Many Mexicanos, like Lerma, who came here to work
in the coal mines, eventually settled in Fort Worth. Joes mother, Consuelo Soto,
met and married Juan Lerma in Malakoff. Her family originally came from the
neighboring northern Mexico towns of Villa Aldama and Bustamante in the
14
state of Nuevo Len.
Joe Lerma was born in Fort Worth on April 27, 1944. Initially attracted to
music as a way to meet girls, he began assisting the musical group El conjunto
flamingo as a band boy, and in 1960, when the lead singer took leave to be with
his expectant wife, Joe Lermas singing career was launched.15 The following
year Lerma accepted an invitation to be the lead vocalist for Johnny Ayala and
the Gamblers. In the fall of 1961 Lerma left the Gamblers to form his own band
known as the Latin Souls. Band members included Joe Castillo, Cha Cha
Jimnez, Wally Almendariz, Johnny Lerma (Joes brother), and Lonnie Aguilar
(Joes cousin).
In 1967, Joe Lerma was drafted and sent to Vietnam. He spent the next year
in a Vietnamese jungle halfway around the world, far from the Tejano music scene.
On returning to Fort Worth in 1969 he organized a new band, calling it Mixed

Company because three of the members were Anglo and five were Mexican
Americans. Lerma worked days at Texas Steel, rehearsed with the band in the
evenings, and played on weekends. Band members included Bill Miller, Ron
Soche, John Stuller, Carlos Vela (guitar), Juan Lpez (bass), Charlie Rodrguez
(keyboard and saxophone), Sara Price (vocalist), and Joe Lerma (lead vocalist). A
year later Lerma renamed the band Alma 70 and began recording in Austin with
promoter Dave Gutirrez and his Paisano label. The band was now composed of
Johnny Lerma (drums), Domingo Raya (saxophone), Ral Rodrguez (saxo-
phone), John Lpez (guitar), Richard Longoria (bass), and Joe Lerma
(lead vocalist). Alma 70 performed from 1970 to 1976 and produced one album,
16
Los dos, on the Paisano label in 1974.
Joe Lerma knew everyone involved in the Fort Worth music scene from the
1950s through the 1970s. He recalled one of Fort Worths earliest music and
dance promoters, Vicente Pulido, who brought artists such as Vicente Fernndez
and El negro reyna to perform at the North Sides Marine Theater. These singing
sensations were just a few of the stars that gave memorable performances there.
Another early promoter, Gabe Salinas, brought Mexican and Mexican American
artists to the Casino at Lake Worth and the Guys and Dolls Ballroom. Lerma
remembered Andrs Mantecn, who was one of the first Hispanic deejays in Fort
Worth to buy time on an Anglo-owned radio station and play the Mexican music
popular with the local community.
One of the bands managers, El Sport, arranged for a tour that included
Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. The manager paid for all the
gas, food, and lodging but never gave the band members any money, assuring
them that he would divide the proceeds at the end of the tour. The band
stopped for the night at the small mountain town of La Junta in southeastern
Colorado on the way to an engagement in Denver and during the night El
Sport, along with all of their earnings, disappeared. The stunned band members
were reduced to asking the owner of a local saloon if they could play there in
return for meals. The band broke up in 1976, and Lerma concentrated on his
job at the Fort Worth State School, where he became the director of vocational
17
programming in 1980.
Tejano recording artist Paula was born Paulina (later Pauline) Willis on
March 17, 1946, at Marlin, Texas, to Ernest and Eulalia Arvalo Willis. Ernest and
Eulalia overcame serious family objections to their marriage and prevailed over
Ernests fathers intolerance for dark-skinned people. Ernesto (Ernest) Willis
was born in Marlin, Texas, son of blue-eyed sharecropper Jos Willis, half Anglo
and half Mexican. Eulalia Arvalo, was also born in Marlin. Her father, Epifanio
Arvalo, originally from Morelia, Michoacn, passed down a dark, Indian-like
complexion to his daughter. He raised cattle, horses, and pigs and was a man of
means. Because of their color Jos Willis despised not only Epifanio Arvalo but
also Eulalia. He treated her with great disdain, even to the extent of playing mean
tricks like putting a dead animal under her window.18
A small-town Romeo-and-Juliet-like drama unfolded as both fathers forbade
their children to see each other, but Ernest and Eulalia ignored their parents
edicts. Willis subsequently disowned and disinherited his son for marrying the
dark-complected woman, and when Pauline (the second of five children) was born,
her grandfather pronounced que ella era hija de un negro (that she was the daugh-
ter of a black man). This family experience taught Pauline that discrimination was
19
not exclusively inter-racial.
Ernest Willis was a devout Baptist (he was superintendent of Sunday
schools), a good family man, and headed a strict, conservative household.20 For
example, the children couldnt date before they reached a certain age. When
Pauline was a sophomore in college she still had to be chaperoned on dates by
one or more of her siblings. When you took a Willis girl out on a date, you took
21
the whole family.
In World War II Ernest joined the Marines and served in the Pacific Theater.
His battalion was overrun by Japanese troops on Guadalcanal. He was seriously
wounded and spent nine months recuperating in a Shanghai hospital. Although
he was a disabled veteran eligible for a government pension, he never received any
benefits, nor did he ever request any. He never complained about his wounds, even
though they clearly affected the quality of his life. I served my country. Im a
Marine, Pauline recalled him telling her. It wasnt until the end of his life that he
22
received a Purple Heart and an appreciative letter from President Ronald Reagan.
Pauline grew up in Knox City, Texas, and at the age of eleven began singing
at the services and revivals at the Primera Iglesia Bautista in the neighboring town
of OBrien.23 The Willis familys social life centered on the churchthey spent all
day Sunday as well as Wednesday evenings there. Pauline began singing as part of
her church life.
The way I saw myself was . . . hey, they want someone to sing, and
I love to sing to the Lord, because I love the Lord. I mean, that was my
whole life. Christ was so real in my life. I never thought that, oh, I have
a beautiful voice, or this or that . . . . I was going to do something for
the Lord. Talking about talent . . . if He gives you a talent, and if you
24
use it Hell give you twice that, and if you hide it you lose it.
From 1965 to 1969 Pauline attended Howard Payne College in Brownwood,

a conservative Baptist school that met with her fathers approval. At the time there
were only about ten Hispanic students at the school and, even though they were
all Baptists, there was still discrimination. Paulines dorm mother, Mrs. Becker, for
example, had a rule forbidding dating between Anglos and Mexicanos; if an Anglo
was caught dating a Hispanic the dorm mother immediately wrote a letter to the
parents. Mrs. Becker didnt quite know what to do with PaulineWillis was, after
all, an Anglo surname.
I think the fact that I had been discriminated against all my life
25
made me tough. I would date los bolillos adrede (on purpose), and Id
pass under her nose so she could see me, and Id give her the I-dare-
you-say-something-to-me look! So all those years I really didnt care
26
for them, but I was using them.
She began singing in an all-female quartet in her freshman year. In her

sophomore year she joined a trio, graduating to a duo the next year, and was
given solos as a senior. Her groups performed at special functions and revivals
throughout the year. Pauline even recorded a hymn on a 45-rpm record in a
27
small Brownwood studio.
Paulines roommate at Howard Payne, Mara Elena Vela, married a Fort

Worth man, Donald Moore. Donald was a graduate student at the
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Mara Elena worked for the
Baptist Radio and Television Commission, which produced the Spanish radio
program, La hora bautista (The Baptist Hour). The Anglo seminary choir
sang all the songs for the program in Spanish, but their pronunciation was not
very good. After hearing this butchered Spanish Pauline asked her friend
Mara Elena to ask her boss, JoAnn Shelton, if Paulines group could sing
instead. Shelton denied the request, giving the reason that neither Mara Elena
nor Pauline had any voice training. It was a slap in the face! Here I was, so
dedicated to God, pouring my soul into the music that I was singing to God,
and it was like a slap in the face! I thought, When did God require that we have
voice training to sing to Him?
Paulines popular music career began in 1964 when her cousin, Faye Gmez
(Barrera), introduced her to the leader of a new musical group called Little Joe and
the Latinaires, playing at the Guys and Dolls Ballroom in South Fort Worth.28 The
huge and wildly popular dance hall had seen the likes of Harry James, Alfonso
29
Ramos, and other famous bands. At first Pauline hesitated because good Baptists
are not supposed to go to dance halls, but Faye insisted. When Little Joe found out
that she could sing, he said, Weve been looking for a female vocalist.
Sure, Id love to sing, replied Pauline, thinking that it was just polite con-
versation. After all, Little Joe had never heard Pauline sing, and she had never
heard of his band.
Were going to be recording in Dallas. Can you come?
Sure, Pauline answered, playing along as if the musician was really serious.
Ill call you tomorrow. Ill tell you where well be in Dallas.
True to his word the next day Little Joe called Pauline at the home of her
30
friend and cousin, Lucy Pea. She began rehearsing songs, especially rancheras,
with the band. Pauline chose the stage name Paula to disguise herself and evade
her Baptist familys disapproval. In September 1964 they recorded Querido
amigo (Dear Friend). Paula wasnt sure that anything would really come of this
experience until she saw the album, On Tour, with her picture on the back
31
cover. These initial recordings were rather primitive and crudefirst the music
was recorded and later Paulas voice was added. The result was loud instrumen-
tation with barely audible vocals. Regardless of recording quality, Querido amigo
launched the Tejano musical style, inspiring bands like Alfonso Ramos, Sunny
32
and the Sunliners, and Little Joe y la familia to fuse traditional rancheras with an
electrified rock n roll sound.
Paula sang with Little Joe and his band from September 1964 to October
1966. The band consisted of three saxophones, two trumpets, an electric guitar
(Little Joe), an electric bass (Ral Reyes), drums (Cino Moreno), and a keyboard
(Luis Pesina).33 It was a modern big-band sound that made Little Joe popular
with Mexicanos all over the state. Paula soon began making more money singing
(1964) Fort Worth singer

Paula about the time
she began singing with
Little Joe and the Latinaires
(now Little Joe y la familia).
Photo courtesy of Pauline
Willis Estrada.
on weekends than she did the entire week as a bilingual secretary for Texas
34
Refinery and was able to quit her regular job. Rehearsals were Monday to
Friday, and the band booked engagements on the weekends all over Texas.
Although Paulas parents were proud of her new career and heard her music on
35
the radio, they never attended any of her live performances.
Paula soon established a relationship with Dallas-based Luther and Vivian
de la Garza, avid promoters of Mexican-American music throughout Texas.
With Luthers brother-in-law, Johnny Gonzalez, they also operated large dance
facilities such as the High Ho in Grand Prairie, the Camelot in Arlington, and
El zarape in Dallas.36 Vivian de la Garza convinced Paula to leave Little Joes
band and let Vivian manage her career. Acting as Paulas agent, Vivian booked
tours that took the young singer all over the American Southwest, from Texas
to California. From 1966 to 1967 Paula sang at dance halls in San Francisco,
37
San Jos, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, and
Las Cruces, New Mexico. She sang with well-known stars such as Mexicos
Jos Alfredo Jimnez and was about to make a six-week tour of major cities in
South America. But Paulas fianc, Sam Estrada, objected to this extended
tour. Pauline Willis married Sam Estrada on January 21, 1967, and began a fam-
ily that included Debbie, Sharon, Karen, Sammy, and Samantha; her singing
38
career came to an end.
Samuel Estrada, born in Anson, Texas, in 1939, was one of four children
raised by Manuel and Hermnia Nieto Estrada. Sams father Manuel, a labor
39
contractor, worked in nearby Stamford. Sam Estrada joined the U.S. Air Force
and received training as an aircraft mechanic. After the service he moved to
40
Fort Worth and worked for Bell Helicopter and General Dynamics.
From 1968 to 1991 Pauline also worked for General Dynamics as a senior
program estimator, but the position ended with defense cuts at the end of the
Cold War. She also held a position with Texas Christian Universitys Center for
41
Instructional Services and taught in the universitys Intensive English program.
Paulines past as a singer might well have gone unnoticed were it not for
a series of unrelated events that brought her name and whereabouts to the
attention of Ramn Hernndez, Little Joes publicist and authority on Tejano
42
music and latino stars. Hernndez was delighted to rediscover Little Joes former
female vocalist and invited Paula to the February 27, 1997, Hispanic American
Entertainment Hall of Fame Awards held at San Antonios Mercado. Little Joe and
other Tejano singers and musicians honored her as the First Lady of Tejano
Music. On July 15, 1997, Pauline presented a plaque inducting the musical group
43
Los relmpagos del Norte (Lightning of the North) into the Latino Hall of Fame at
44
the annual Pura Vida awards in San Antonio.
45
Fernando Landeros, Sr., was born in Torren, Coahuila, Mexico, on June 9,
1949. Fernandos mother, Francisca Landeros, was also from Torren; he never
knew his father. Fernando lived in Torren until the age of sixteen when he
moved to Monterrey, Nuevo Len, in search of a better living as a master mason.
While working for a government construction company, Landeros helped build
schools in the remote areas of the state of Nuevo Len in 1965. He became skilled
at working with brick, stone, concrete, cement and clay roof tile, plaster, marble,
and washed stone slabs. His fachadas especiales (special surface techniques) using
46
broken glass and conchas on plaster walls were especially notable.
In Monterrey Fernando met Gabriel Vrgas, a fellow masonry worker who
played the accordion with his group Los fantsticos de Monterrey. There were five
instruments in Los fantsticos: an accordion, a bajosexto (twelve-string guitar, the
instrument that accompanies the accordion), an electric bass, the batera (drums),
and a saxophone. Vargas invited Fernando to rehearsals and engagements and
47
introduced Fernando to music and musical instruments.
48
The mid-1960s was the era of cumbias norteas (the northern cumbias) and
polkas, which are of German-Swiss origin. According to Landeros, the Germans
popularized both the polka and the accordion in Mexico during World War II.
The polka had been popular in South-Central Texas since the mid-nineteenth
century because of the extensive German community in the New Braunfels and
Hill Country areas. Tony de la Rosa of Corpus Christi further popularized the
polka with the Mexican-American population throughout South Texas. This
musical sound quickly spread to northern Mexico as well. Las polkas, las cumbias,
and las rancheras (ranch songs) together comprise the popular songs of northern
49
Mexico and southern Texas.
When Landeros turned seventeen, he quit his masonry job and voluntarily
joined the Mexican army, hoping eventually to join the air force. He went to
Mexico City for paratrooper training that lasted six months. After graduation
Fernando applied to enter the military academy. However, it proved difficult for a
norteo to get ahead in the south-central region of the country because of the
fierce rivalry and jealousy between Mexicanos of different regions. The frequent
fighting between men of different regions and states was evidence of these
50
rivalries. One of these fights involved Fernando, who severely injured his
opponent; that ended his military career.
Landeros wandered around Mexico and the United States for several years,
working in a variety of capacitiescook, auto mechanic, shoveling coal on a train,
and as a coyote, helping Mexicanos enter the United States without papers. He
ended up in Fort Worth, began working for Lone Star Gas Company, met and
married Alejandra, and soon fathered Fernando Landeros, II.
At this point in Fernandos life music entered his veins. Gabriel Daz, com-
padre de bautizo (godfather) to little Fernando, an accordion player who had his
own conjunto, and the other musicians who surrounded him inspired Fernando
to learn to play the accordion.51 Landeros asked Daz if he would sell one of his
five instruments, but Daz, surprisingly, refused, perhaps fearing that selling an
accordion to Fernando would inspire him to start his own conjunto.
Nevertheless, Landeros bought an accordion in a pawnshop. He tried to teach
himself but soon found the instrument more complicated than he had thought.
In those days Landeros loved to listen to Shermans Mexican radio station
Stereo Mexicano and La fabulosa, KESS, broadcasting from Dallas. One of the con-
juntos that impressed him was Los relmpagos del Norte, a Monterrey band that
had captured the number one spot on the radio at various times and dominated
the air waves.
Fernando left Lone Star Gas Company when Carlos and Bobby Vsquez,
owners of Vsquez Brothers Concrete Company, offered him a job. One of their
projects was at Texas Christian University. Landeros was invaluable as the only
person who knew how to install the maroon-colored washed stone along the
steps in front of the Rickel Building. In the evenings Fernando played and drank
with the Vsquez brothers, who had their own musical instruments and played
around town. They even allowed Fernando to sing in one of their performances.
Nevertheless, the ever-restless Fernando felt it was time to do something else, to
52
change the setting (cambiar ambiente) of his life.
In 1970 Landeros moved his family to Dallas and began working for the city
of University Park, driving a municipal trash truck. He continued learning to play
the accordion, making slow but steady progress. Fernando worked as a trash truck
driver until 1972, when again he felt the need for change.
While still working for University Park, Landeros found a side job finishing
slabs for a concrete contractor who paid eight dollars an hour. He worked under
contract and soon had his own loyal crew of workers. When the side job began
bringing in four to five hundred dollars per week Landeros realized that he
needed more help. Thus began his sideline career as a coyotesomeone who
smuggles mojados (wetbacks) across the U.S. border for a price. Fernando smuggled
his brother, Mario, through the border at Laredo, hiding him under the seat of
53
the car as Fernandos toddler son slept soundly above.
With a crew of three dependable workers plus his brother, Mario, Landeros
was now earning $1,000 per week. He and his friends developed the habit of
going to the park near his house in South Dallas to drink, sing, play instruments,
and shoot the breeze. One day a mojado in dirty clothes approached them saying
he had just arrived on the freight train from Laredo. Introducing himself as Pablo
Granados, he begged them for a bite to eat, as he had not eaten in several days.
Landeros took Pablo home, fed and clothed him, and made him one of his crew.
The next day after work Landeros took Granados to one of the Mexican
cantinas where a conjunto, Los regionales, played cumbias and rancheras. Between
songs Pablo Granados asked them if he could sing. On the stage he sang beau-
tifully and played the accordion, delivering a virtuoso performance. Granados
subsequently took turns playing the bass guitar, the bajosexto, and the batera
playing each instrument to perfection. The leader of the conjunto begged Pablo to
join their group, and Landeros realized that his new friend and workerthe
fellow who lived with his family and who helped him on the garbage truck
was no ordinary musician. It turned out that Pablo Granados had played with
the most respected group in all northern Mexico, Los gorriones del topo chico de
Monterrey. Their relationship meant that Fernando could play with the conjunto,
singing and accompanying them on el giro (the hand-held, round, wooden,

54
ribbed instrument rubbed by a short wooden stick).
Landeros continued driving the garbage truck, contracting cement jobs, and
earning a good deal of money. Sometimes he made so much money he didnt
know what to do with ithe bought rounds of drinks for anyone and everyone
at the cantinas and on one occasion bought a .38 pistol, which he kept behind
the seat in his truck. Fernando liked to frequent Gina, a neighborhood cantina,
located on Peek and Bryan streets in South Dallas, and he was popular with the
owner and the patrons alike because of his generosity.
However, an incident in the cantina resulted in Landeros shooting a man and
going to jail for several days. His wife and friends bailed him out, and the outcome
of his trial was a five-year probated sentence. The circumstances of his probation
proved to be difficult, and the Landeros family moved to Mineral Wells.
In Mineral Wells, his wifes hometown, Landeros secured employment with
Acme Brick Company for $1.60 per hour sweeping and disposing of brick frag-
ments. Although this was a low pay rate their financial situation wasnt too bad
rent at the company housing was a mere $1.25 per week. They had to pay only
the gas bill, as the company paid the water and electricity. The foreman set up an
incentive program for bundling brickswhoever packaged more than fifteen
bundles per day would receive bonus pay. Soon Fernando was packaging sixty
bundles per day, earning him recognition as the best bundler in the company, a
distinction he kept for the next two years. He was now earning sixty dollars per
day. The company also rewarded its exceptional employee with two miniature
55
gold Acme bricks.
But music was never far from his mind. Landeros took courses with a
correspondence school to be a radio disc jockey (para ser locutor). He contacted
Roberto del Villar, a deejay who had a radio program in Waxahachie and asked for
help getting started in the business. Del Villar liked Fernandos voice and gave
him a shift every Saturday from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. In the evenings Landeros
saw his friend and musical hero, Pablo Granados, who now played with Los rebeldes
del Norte, and Granados soon began teaching Fernando to play the accordion.
Landeros was a man of restless ambition. He contacted the management of
an Anglo-owned western-music radio station in Mineral Wells to buy one hour
of air time a week to play Mexican music. They agreed to sixty dollars
for one hour. Negotiations complete, Landeros contacted area Hispanic-owned
businesses and offered to promote their businesses, for a fee of fifteen dollars,
during his hour-long Mexican music program. Landeros played polkas, rancheras,
and cumbias, and his program was a great success. Best of all, he pocketed two
hundred dollars after paying his expenses.
Landeros continued to take advantage of new opportunities. He and Juan
(Johnny), a friend from Mineral Wells, rented a local ballroom for a night of
(1993) Sangre nortea

band members Fernando
Landeros, Sr., Fernando
Landeros, Jr. (standing with
accordion), and Santos
Landeros (sitting with
guitar). Photo courtesy
of Fernando Landeros, Sr.
Mexican music and dancing. They soon expanded the idea and hired conjuntos
such as Los monteros de Torren to play every weekend at Johnnys Frontier Club
(named after his partner).
By this time Landeros brother and mother lived with him in Mineral Wells.
He settled into a busy routine: working for Acme during the week, deejaying in
Waxahachie on Saturdays, visiting his musical pals in Dallas, doing his own pro-
gram on Mineral Wells country-and-western station, and helping run Johnnys
Frontier Club Friday and Saturday nights. Yet he still had the drive to pursue
other challenges and stepped up his activities bringing people across the border.
After several harrowing brushes with border guards, Fernando was finally
caught. He was transported to the Webb County Jail in Laredo and called attorney
Eustorgio (Tojo) Prez, whose office was near the Webb County courthouse and
jail. At the hearing the judge assessed Landeros a $10,000 fine and released him
after he paid the sum (the attorney never got fully paid). So ended Landeros
56
moonlighting career as a coyote.
When Fernando returned to Mineral Wells he found that the drummer for
Los monteros de Torren had left the group. The band unanimously nominated him
to be the replacement drummer, and Landeros dream of a career as a musician
suddenly came true. He played the drums regularly for the next four years and
continued to practice the accordion. In 1973 after Los monteros disbanded, he
formed his own conjunto and called it Los alegres de Bennett (after Bennett, Texas,
the tiny community next door to Mineral Wells where he actually lived). The
group lasted about a year. Alejandra and Fernando divorced in 1978, and he
moved to Fort Worths North Side barrio where he has lived ever since. He has
remarried; he and his second wife, Dolores, have two sonsFernando, III, and
Santos.
The series of conjuntos that Landeros was associated with over the next years
were:
(1) Los gallitos del Norte, 1973-1975.
Bass: Gregorio (Gollito) Gonzalez
Drums: Fernando Landeros, Sr.
Accordion: Jos Luis [last name unknown]
Bajosexto: Crescencio (Chencho) (Jos Luis brother)
(2) Los Pachangueros, 1975 (Landeros played bass guitar)

(3) Los caminantes de Joe Hinojosa, 1975-1977
Dick Pacheco, bajosexto
Jos (Joe) Hinojosa, giro
Johnny Ayala (stand-in on drums)
Fernando Landeros, Sr., vocalist
Johnny Gonzalez, Sr., accordion
Johnny Gonzalez, Jr., bass guitar
(4) Ambicin, 1977-1980
Victor Barrn, bass guitar
Luis Zrate, accordion
Fernando Landeros, Sr., drums
Jos Castillo, bajosexto
(5) Los forasteros de Saltillo (The Outsiders), 1980-1992
Juan Hernndez, bass guitar
Juan Aguirre, drums
Fernando Landeros, III, giro
Fernando Landeros, Sr., accordion
Cristino Csio, bajosexto
(6) Sangre nortea, 1992 to present
Anselmo Martnez, base guitar
Santos Landeros, drums
Jos Figueroa, bajosexto, vocalist
Fernando, III, accordion, drums, keyboard
Fernando, Sr., accordion, vocalist
Sangre nortea recorded its first album in 1992. Among the cumbias, rancheras,
one bolero, one Guapango, and one polka in the album is a song composed by
57
Landeros entitled Mi suegra, a humorous tribute to his mother-in-law.
ART AND FILM
Juan Menchaca had a natural talent for art. In 1926 when he was a senior at
Technical High School, Juan entered an art contest and won first prize for his
58
painting of a howling coyote on a snow-covered hill. His prize was a canary.
An Anglo doctor was impressed with Juans talent and bought the winning
painting for ten dollars. Juan was convinced that he had a talent worth devel-
oping and approached an art school in Fort Worth. The school administrator
evaluated his work and was not encouraging, but he did suggest that Juan apply
to the Denver Art Museum school. Juan left Fort Worth and studied art at the
59
Denver institute for several years.
After finishing his studies in art Juan returned to Fort Worth and married
Felicia, whose family name is unknown. He was commissioned to paint windows
for San Jos Catholic Church because of his simple yet elegant Gothic style.
The project was designed to raise money for the church: For a fee a person could
sponsor a window and dedicate it to a loved one. Menchaca also executed a paint-
ing of the founder of the Claretian order, Antonio Mara Claret, which hung in
60
the church for almost thirty years. After a few months visiting family and
friends, Juan and his new bride returned to Denver, where they had decided to
make their home. He worked for the Denver Museum of Art and some of his
paintings found their way to museums in New Mexico and Wyoming and to the
61
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
Movie star Pilar del Rey, was born Pilar Bouzas and raised in Fort Worths
North Side neighborhood. The family moved to Los Angeles, California, where
Pilar was discovered and acted in numerous television programs, commercials,
and motion pictures, including Giant, starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor,
62
and James Dean, The Naked Jungle, and And Now Miguel.
Pilars father, Aurelio (Earl) Bouzas, was born on August 1, 1902, in
Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain. His father was an engineer by profession, and the rest
of his family was educated as well. Earl left Spain in 1924 to join his brothers in
the United States. On a whim he came to Fort Worth with a friend and immedi-
ately got a job at the Worth Hotel. The city suited him; he settled down and in
1927 met and married Juanita Barrera.63
Earl and Juanita Bouzas lived at 909 Henderson Avenue near downtown and
began a family. The first two children died, but in 1934 Pilar was born, followed
by Arthur (named after Juanitas brother) in 1935. In the late 1930s the Bouzas
moved from the downtown area to the North Side to be near Juanitas family. Pilar
was baptized at the old San Jos Catholic Church and attended M. G. Ellis
Elementary School from the first through the fifth grades. Dancing was her pas-
sion and she began tap lessons at Angel Morris dance school. She even per-
formed several times at the Isis Theater on North Main Street. This was the era
when minorities were relegated to the balcony section, the only place where her
64
family could watch their talented daughter.
(1957) Ft. Worth-born Pilar

del Rey (Pilar Bouzas) graces
the front page in an article
on her role in the movie
Giant, starring Rock
Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor,
and James Dean. Photo cour-
tesy of Pete Zepeda.
When Pilars Uncle Arthur died in a car accident, his wife Dela and his
daughter moved to California, and the rest of the Delas extended family decided
to follow. Earl Bouzas immediately found work as a cook at a popular restaurant
called the House of Murphy on La Cienega and Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Pilars Hollywood career began after a chance encounter with an agent.
Carlos Alvarado, whose brother, Don, had worked in silent movies, was strand-
ed one day when his car broke down. Frantic about getting to an appointment,
Alvarado boarded the same city bus that carried Pilar on her way to make up a
class at Virgil Junior High during summer vacation. He introduced himself, apol-
ogized for staring, and handed Pilar a card saying that she had the looks to get
into the movies and to contact him if she was interested. Alvarado later suggest-
ed to Pilar that she change her last name to a more marketable one. Pilars moth-
er rejected his first suggestiondel Rio, after the popular actress, Dolores del
Riobecause she thought it might be confused with the well-known actress.
Earl objected to the idea of changing Pilars last name, grumbling that Bouzas
was good enough. Pilar finally settled on del Rey and enrolled at the
65
Hollywood Professional School under her new stage name.
Earl and Juanita Bouzas were moral, religious, and hard-working people
who cared deeply about the quality of family life and the upbringing of their two
children. Pilar has managed to maintain the values, morals, and Roman Catholic
beliefs that her parents taught, in spite of the atmosphere of Tinsel Town. She
never married and has dedicated the last twenty years to raising the sons from her
brother Arthurs failed marriage. Pilar feels that this has been part of her special
66
calling in life.
Chapter 8
C HALLENGES
The challenges of the last half of the twentieth century for Fort Worth Hispanics
have been threefoldhow to deal with changing immigration policies, how to
become part of the citys leadership, and how to groom leaders who can boinspire
the Hispanic community and seize the imaginations of Anglos. The individuals
examined in this last section range from a coyote to the first Hispanic elected to city
council and the first Hispanic elected to the Fort Worth Independent School
Boardrepresentatives of these three modern concerns.
I M M I G R AT I O N
The life of musician Fernando Landeros also illustrates the risks Mexicanos faced
in order to start a new life in America and the contradictory immigration policies
that affect many lives. Fernando is a man with a restless nature, and in his younger
days he was always looking for adventure. Following a brush with a military tri-
bunal, Fernando entered the United States illegally in search of work.
Subsequently he spent several years as a coyote and has a number of stories that
demonstrate the determination and courage of the mojados (wetbacks). Smuggling
people across the border was dangerous and difficult work and carried the threat
of large fines and a jail sentence.
Fernandos adventurousness was born when he was in the Mexican army
training to be a pilot. There were soldiers from many different regions of Mexico,
and they often fought with each other. One soldier (also named Landeros) from
the state of Durango began harassing Fernando. The tension between them built
until one day they confronted each other with drawn bayonets. Urged on by a
circle of jeering and cheering soldiers, Fernando stabbed the bully, pinning him to
a tree with his bayonet. Military police quickly seized Fernando and whisked him
1
off to jail. He spent the next two weeks in a small dark room, furnished only with
a table and chair. Prison officials gave him one loaf of bread and one glass of water
2
a day, and he learned to sleep on the surface of the small table to avoid the rats.
At the end of the two-week period, Landeros faced a military court-martial.
If he were found guilty of initiating the bloody confrontation he would have faced
many years in prison, but the testimony of several witnesses saved Fernando
Landeros from this fate. However, in punishment for his part in the fracas, the
military court offered him two choiceseither join the infantry at a reduced rank
or resign from the military. With his prospects for a career in the air force gone,
3
Fernando chose to resign.
Penniless, Fernando hopped freight trains and returned to Monterrey, where
he resumed his previous career as a master mason, working until February 1968.
On a visit to his home in Torren he met some friends who talked about leaving
to go al norte (to the United States) where there was plenty of work and lots of
money. On one of their many parrandas (outings marked by drinking and carous-
ing), they dared each other to go that very night. In spite of the fact that all were
drunk and broke, the three amigos attempted to thumb a ride toward the border
by way of Saltillo. After several hours passed, Landeros was finally able to flag
down a large truck. His friends had passed out, so Fernando left them behind,
4
peacefully dozing by the roadside.
From Saltillo, Fernando caught a train bound for Allende, Coahuila, shovel-
ing coal aboard the coal-car for his passage; he then caught another train from
Allende to Ciudad Acua (across from Del Rio). He had heard that the passage
across the Rio Grande into the United States would be easier there than in Piedras
Negras (across from Eagle Pass). Once in Ciudad Acua, Fernando met El
Diablo, an old mason friend from Torren who helped him secure a construc-
5
tion job on the Amistad Dam.
Landeros worked construction until he made enough money to resume his
odyssey. When he did, he found it was necessary to cross the Rio Grande on foot
about twenty kilometers above Ciudad Acua. It took Fernando three hours to
descend the treacherous hills overlooking the river. The river was about three
Challenges 179
hundred feet wide and five to six feet in depth; slippery rocks on the bottom
complicated the crossing. Fernando began to cross the river, supporting himself
with a tree limb. Even though the current was swift and the water came up to his
neck (he is six-feet tall) and at times covered his head completely, Landeros
6
crossed successfully, finally making it safely onto American soil.
Not wanting to spend the night on the banks of the river, Fernando began
the long, arduous ascent of the steep hill on the Texas side, trekking along to
Comstock, where he spent the night. The next day Fernando, now out of food,
came upon a ranch where a Mexicano who worked as a cook and caretaker for
an Anglo offered him a meal of cornbread, beans, and venison. After Landeros
rested a few hours his host told him how to get to Ozona (by U.S. Interstate 10).
Fernando had to leave quickly because the ranch owner, who worked for the
7
immigration service in the Del Rio area, was due to arrive shortly.
North of Comstock Fernando found himself walking in circles, completely
lost, until he recalled a technique hed learned while training with the army. He
used a stick to gauge the direction the sun traveled and establish the points of the
compass. Landeros continued on foot, eventually arriving at tiny Midkiff (a ghost
town today), which had only about three or four buildings, the busiest of which
8
was a small restaurant-tavern.
Landeros worked as a dishwasher at the Midkiff restaurant for two days and
then got a job in an oil supply field office. El Paso Natural Gas Company had
a small refinery in Midkiff, and two of its supervisors offered Fernando a job keep-
ing the grounds clean around their office and truck terminal for three
dollars a day plus room and board. When he wasnt tending the grounds,
9
Landeros assisted the mechanic who maintained the companys fleet of trucks.
Fernando learned quickly and could repair anything once he had seen it
done. Sometimes he took it upon himself to fix and remount flats and to repair
leaking and ruptured pipes. His employers, brothers Pete and Brad Peters, appre-
ciated how useful and resourceful he was and began to expand his duties. They
asked him to drive the tractor-trailer trucks on ranch roads to extract oil from
storage tanks. They also raised Fernandos pay from three to eight dollars per day.
One day two border patrol officials arrived as Landeros was loading oil
onto his truck. When they asked to see his papers, Fernandos lack of English led
the officials to surmise that he was in the country illegally. They arrested him,
but one of his bosses came and tried to bargain with the officials. He asked what
was necessary to make Fernando legal and even offered the officials several
hundred dollars to allow their employee to stay. The officials refused, stating that
they were just doing their job. Before Fernando left in the patrol car, Brad Peters
told him to call as soon as he could so that Peters could wire money for his
10
return.
Landeros spent two weeks in an Ozona jail before being transported on a
green border patrol bus with forty other mojados to the nearest border crossing at
Presidio. Landeros and the others were put on a train at Ojinaga, on the Mexican
side of the Rio Grande, to make the two-hundred-mile trip to Chihuahua. A few
of the mojados, like Fernando, who were lucky enough to have some money, could
purchase the seven-dollar ticket and ride in one of the passenger cars. The major-
ity of the wets were herded into a cattle car where they were locked up until
their arrival in Chihuahua. A border patrol officer was posted at each end of the
passenger car all the way to their destination.
With some money left over Landeros boarded a bus bound for Torren.
When he arrived he immediately called Brad Peters, who asked how much money
he should send. Fernando hesitated, not knowing how much to ask for. Peters
eventually wired three hundred dollars and instructed Fernando to get back to
Midkiff as soon as possible. Landeros boarded the next train bound for Ciudad
Acua, where he met another mojado who wished to make the journey with an
experienced traveler. Together they set out on foot following the same route that
Fernando had traveled earlier. It took three weeks to get to Midkiff; it would have
taken longer if they hadnt offered a Mexicano in Rankin twenty dollars to drive
11
them to their destination.
Back in Midkiff Fernando was welcomed with great delight and celebra-
tion; his patrons even offered his companion fifty dollars for having been the
instrument of Fernandos return. Everyone agreed to use their CB radios as an
early-warning system to spot border patrol vehicles approaching the area.
Landeros worked for the Peters brothers until December 24, 1968, when he
and his companion left for Colorado in search of something else (necesitaba algo
12
ms, quera buscar algo ms).
Challenges 181
In preparation for his departure Fernando bought a 1959 Chevy for three
hundred dollars, as well as some warm clothing. On Christmas Eve 1968, while
on the way to Colorado, the pair stopped in Midland to attend a well-publicized
Mexican dance at the convention center. Fernandos car stalled at an intersection.
Not wanting to be late for the dance, his friend went on ahead to the convention
center on foot. As he tried in vain to start the car Landeros was hit from behind
by another vehicle. The driver of the other car was very angry and threatened to
call the police. Fernando naturally didnt want to attract the attention of the police
and headed on foot to call for a mechanic. When a police car cruised by, Landeros
bolted into a nearby field, running so wildly that he slammed into a barbed-wire
fence. He kept right on running until arriving out of breath at a small Mexican
bar where he called a taxi that took him to Midkiff for fifty dollars.
His friend joined him in Midkiff and soon the two were off to Chicago,
where the friend had heard of the tremendous job potential. The bus route to
Chicago went through Fort Worth and while they waited for the bus, they met
Frank Flores, a Mexicano from the South Side. Flores told them that his father,
Robert Flores, could find jobs for them sanding cabinets and get them a place to
live for forty dollars a week. Landeros worked for three months at a cabinet shop
13
in Fort Worth.
Landeros met another Frank Flores, also a resident of the South Side, who
was a manager for Lone Star Gas Company and the saxophone player with the
Jimmy Flores Band (1950s-1970s). Frank arranged for both a social security
card and a job working at the gas company for Fernando. When he had been
working for Lone Star for four months, he met and began dating Alejandra, a
girl from Mineral Wells who was a friend of Albert Flores daughter (Albert was
Franks padrino de bodamarriage godfather). They soon were married and
began a family: Fernando, II, was born on November 20, 1969. His marriage to
14
Alejandra and the birth of his son ended Fernandos immigration problems.
However, discrimination seemed to stalk Fernando Landeros no matter
where he went. He soon found that naturalized Mexicanos who had lived in the
states for a long time resented recent arrivals from Mexico. In an eerie reprise
of the situation that ended his military career, Fernando was involved in a fight in
15
a bar in Dallas. A Chicano playing pool in the bar began echndole madres
(heaping insults on him). Landeros tried to defuse the situation but the bully
poked him in the ribs with a cue stick, saying plainly that he didnt like mojados,
and se puso bravo (he became belligerent), hitting Fernando several times with the
16
stick. Landeros stormed out of the cantina, grabbed a pistol hidden behind
the seat of his pickup truck, and concealed it behind his belt, under his sport
coat. Back inside the cantina the Chicano continued cocoriando (provoking) and
17
spat in his face. Fernando drew his gun and shot the man in the left shoulder.
He was apprehended just one block from his house on Victor and Carroll
streets. The police found and confiscated the gun and arrested Landeros.
Alejandra called an attorney and paid the fifteen-hundred-dollar bail.
Landeros resumed working while waiting for trial: he received a five-year
probated sentence. During the probation period, Fernandos probation officers
often taunted and harassed him. Thus, he found the conditions of his probation
intolerable and in 1972 Landeros and his family moved to Mineral Wells. He still
18
was required to report once a month to his probation officer in Fort Worth.
Increasingly, Anglo businesses were requiring more cheap labor, and
Landeros began to import mojados, transporting them to Dallas, Fort Worth,
or Mineral Wells depending upon where they were needed. Orders for mojados
poured in, and Fernando kept making runs to the border at Laredo. Landeros
always went to the area around the cantinas near the international bridge on the
Nuevo Laredo side to gather people who wanted transportation al norte. Landeros
charged $120 to take them across the border. He gave careful instructions and
then concealed them (usually about seven or eight individuals) inside his
troquitas (pickups) camper top.
By now a full-fledged coyote, he carefully observed the habits of the border
patrol and learned that there was usually a break in their stopping vehicles
on I-35 between 1:00 and 1:30 P.M. This provided a window of opportunity for
him to slip by with his human cargo, bound for points north.19
Fernandos brother, Mario, married a woman from Torren, but she
remained in Mexico while he worked in Mineral Wells. Mario missed his new
wife. He began to beg his brother to smuggle his wife in on his next border run.
This time Fernando made the border trip in an old station wagon. When he
picked up his sister-in-law he gave her a jar of Vicks Vapor Rub, instructing her
Challenges 183
to put it in her mouth, in her nose, and around her eyes to give the appearance
of a sick person. The sick person sat between other people in the back seat of
the station wagon, and when immigration officials asked Whats the matter
with her? Landeros replied, Sir, shes real sick. Were on our way now to the
hospital so that a doctor can treat her immediately. The car was quickly waved
20
through; they made it all the way to Mineral Wells without further incident.
Not long after this episode Landeros was caught by the border patrol at the
Roma, Texas, cemetery, a widely known and frequently used rendezvous point.
Fernando explained that he was coming from Roma after visiting friends and that
he happened to come across this wretched band of men whose truck experienced
mechanical difficulties and who were walking, hoping to get a ride to the nearest
town. The illegals corroborated the story as they were questioned, but the entire
group was taken to the border patrol detention center.
All seven mojados were taken to smaller rooms and Fernando could hear the
officials trying to extract confessions from the illegals that they had in fact paid
Landeros to be transported into the U.S. In spite of the harsh interrogation all
seven stuck to their story. Landeros record was investigated along with his claim
that he had a full-time job in Mineral Wells, and he was released. Landeros
continued in this vein for several years, skirting the occasional arrest, until he
was caught, found guilty, and assessed a $10,000 fine or prison term. He paid
21
the fine.
GROWING POLITICAL STRENGTH
Community leader and founder of the Greater Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce, Jaime Pete Zepeda was born in 1914 to Irineo and Martina Manchaca
Zepeda in the small East Texas community of Diboll, south of Lufkin. His parents
met in 1910, when, at the age of twenty-three, Irineo left his home in Mexico
because of the Revolution and arrived in Texas looking for work. He found it at
logging mills in Diboll and Nacogdoches. It was in Nacogdoches that he met and
22
married Martina Manchaca. In 1915 Irineo brought his young family to Fort
Worth, in a covered wagon pulled by mules, and rented a six-room home with
23
another family at 2204 North Commerce Street. They lived there for eleven
24
years until they moved into a shotgun house at 2140 North Commerce in 1926.
Pete Zepeda was baptized a Roman Catholic in Nacogdoches, but in Fort

Worth the family joined La trinidad, the Mexican Methodist Church, and the
Wesley Community House. Pete attended the Wesley House kindergarten and
then went to M. G. Ellis Elementary School until 1927 when he transferred to the
seventh grade at J. P. Elder Middle School. He stayed for one year and then
dropped out to work with his father for Thurber Construction Company. Two
years later he returned to finish eighth grade at J. P. Elder before moving on to
Trimble Tech. A school with about one hundred eighty boys, Trimble Tech offered
regular high school courses in the mornings and shop classes in the afternoons.
The various shop offerings included printing, electrical, machine shop, and auto-
motive; Pete chose to learn the printing trade. He spent two years at Trimble Tech,
transferred to North Side High School, and graduated in 1935.
In the 1920s and 1930s Pete and his father worked for contractors such as
the Thurber Construction Company, paving the streets of downtown Fort
Worth. They also worked for the company paving streets in Stephenville and
Hearne. While in Stephenville, father and son couldnt find anyone who would
rent to Mexicanos, so they lived first in a horse barn and then in an empty space
on the second floor of a building in the downtown commercial district; there
was no heat or running water. In both situations the Zepedas had to go to a
25
nearby service station for water.
From 1935 to 1941 Pete Zepeda worked in the printing department of
Globe Laboratories, a North Side enterprise that produced veterinary products for
the livestock industry. He left to work in the beef boning department of Swift and
Company, a job he held until 1946.
During his time at Globe Pete met and married Juanita Hernndez in a
private ceremony before a Dallas justice of the peace. Juanita, born in Fort Worth
on August 29, 1917, was one of eight children born to Agapito and Dominga
26
Huerta Hernndez.
The newlyweds lived with Petes parents at 1319 North Commerce for six
months before moving into a duplex at 2028 North Commerce. In 1941 the
Zepedas bought a house in the Polytechnic (now Texas Wesleyan University)
area and lived there twenty years before moving to their present
North Side address at 1407 Clinton Avenue. Because he was a father and head
Challenges 185
of a large family, Zepeda was not called to serve in the armed services during
World War II.27
From 1946 to 1947 Pete worked for Panther Oil and Grease Company as an
assistant export manager. The company exported specialized oils for various kinds
of machinery as well as roof coating products. From 1947 to 1950 he worked for
World Wide Trading Corporation, a partnership that exported farm machinery to
Venezuela and Columbia. After the company failed, Pete was hired by General
Dynamics as an analyst in logistics to work with the air force to select parts for
their various aircraft. At GD he joined the Office Professional Employees
International Union and served as shop steward and committeeman for eighteen
of the thirty-four years that he worked there. Pete retired in April 1984.
Beginning in 1949 the enterprising Zepedas engaged in other businesses to
augment their familys income. Pete became the first Hispanic real estate broker
in Fort Worth as well as the first casualty insurance representative and notary
public. He helped people fill out their income tax forms, and he managed several
rental properties on the North Side. Juanita helped Pete with these ventures and
28
often served as a court interpreter.
Pete Zepeda was involved at all levels with the Methodist church since his
childhood. On the local level he served in virtually every capacity from Sunday
school teacher to board president of La trinidad. In 1945 Pete became the first
scoutmaster of Troop 150, the first Mexican American Boy Scout troop in Fort
Worth. From 1960 to 1964 he was a district lay leader and from 1964 to 1971 was
29
a lay leader with the Rio Grande Conference. Zepeda was selected as the male
delegate to represent the Methodist church at the 1968 meeting that
combined the Methodist church with the United Brethren church to form the
United Methodist church. These years of experience have served to train both
Pete and Juanita Zepeda for positions of leadership within their community.
In 1971 Juanita Zepeda became the first Hispanic to announce her candi-
dacy for an at-large position on the Fort Worth City Council. But the promise of
a solid Hispanic vote was diluted by the candidacy of Joe Lazo, who threw his hat
in the ring shortly after Juanitas announcement. They faced an Anglo candidate
who eventually won the seat with approximately 13,000 votes. Zepeda and Lazo
each garnered about 6,000 votes. Although both Hispanic candidates lost, the
election was significant because almost half the voters in a predominantly Anglo
city cast their votes for one or the other of the Hispanic candidates.
On December 4, 1973, Pete Zepeda helped organize what eventually became
the Greater Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He served as president
of the organization in 1975 and has been active ever since. In 1983 a vacant seat
on the Tarrant County Junior College board, traditionally held by a representative
of labor, was to be offered to an Hispanic. Over a dozen people were interviewed
before the board offered the seat to Pete Zepeda. Although he never sought it,
Zepeda accepted the position because he deeply believed in education as the key
30 The Mexican community mourned Pete Zepedas death in
to changing lives.
2001; residents thought of him as the godfather, in reference to his stature as a
highly respected community leader.
31
Louis J. Zapata was born on October 5, 1934, to Antonio and Elena
Miranda Zapata at their home on 500 Mills Street in the barrio of La Corte. Louis
joined his brother and sisters in helping their parents manage the family grocery
business. Even as a youngster, Louis was concerned for otherswhenever his
mother left the store to purchase supplies from area wholesalers, Louis would
freely give out candy to neighborhood children who couldnt afford such a
luxury. Of course, when she returned he had to face her displeasure at discov-
32
ering the stores declining profits.
When Louis first went to school, his parents sent him to San Jos School on
the North Side, but he had to catch the city bus at Main and Weatherford in order
to get there. He was a particularly bright child and earned promotions to the
second and then to the third grade in the same year. Louis mother was con-
cerned about his daily commute by bus at such a young age and transferred
Louis to nearby John Peter Smith Elementary School, located at Florence and
Second streets. His new school didnt recognize San Joss promotions and so
Louis had to repeat first grade. However, he skipped a grade every year for four
yearspromoted from the first to the third; the third to the fifth; and the fifth to
the seventh grades. For the seventh and eighth grades he attended St. Ignatius
33
Catholic School before transferring to Laneri for his freshman and sophomore
Challenges 187
years of high school. In 1951 Louis graduated from Technical High School, after
completing his coursework in his junior year. The year 1951 was pivotal for
Louishe became skilled at the printing business and he fell in love.
Originally from Pittsburg, Oklahoma, Mary Frances Jimnez had come to
Fort Worth to find employment. She met seventeen-year-old Louis in October at
one of the Saturday night Mexican dances at the North Side Coliseum. Virtually
every Saturday night during the 1950s there was a Mexican dance at either the
North Side Coliseum or the Casino at Lake Worth. That particular night the
Cuban Mambo King Prez Prado and his orchestra played for an enthusiastic
and appreciative audience. After a whirlwind courtship Mary Frances and Louis
34
married in April 1952 at St. Patricks Cathedral.
The newlyweds made their first home at 406 Northwest 21st Street across
from the Greek Orthodox Church on Ross Street. They began a family that even-
tually included Mary Helen Louise, Patricia Ann, and Jos Luis, Jr. After five
months they moved to their present home at 2007 North Houston.
Right after high school Louis got a job at Snelson Printing Company on
Race Street and Riverside Drive, where Manuel Jara was his direct supervisor.
He later worked for Dudley-Hodgkins in Arlington and then Stafford Lowden
Printing in Fort Worth. During this time he also worked a second job running
offset presses at Motheral Printing as well as pursuing his freelance work. Using
the platen and offset presses he set up in a twenty-by-twenty-foot shed behind his
home, Louis worked as a subcontractor doing printing for General Motors and
other companies but was soon hired by Bell Helicopter. In 1953 he started work
with Bell in the print shop and quickly rose to the position of logistics adminis-
trator. Within a few months Zapatas leadership abilities ensured his election as
shop steward of the local United Auto Workers union and in 1955 he became
one of the companys four union committeemen in charge of negotiating
management-labor contracts. This job required an ability to analyze figures,
evaluate details, and bargain. During the thirty-eight years that Louis worked for
35
Bell Helicopter he successfully negotiated five major contracts. He retired in 1991.
In addition to his responsibilities at Bell, his freelance printing work, and his
duties with the union, Zapata was a radio operator in the air force reserves.
Interested in ham radio since the 1950s, he taught himself the essentials of this
hobby by building his own equipment. On his weekend tours of duty Zapata flew
with his air force unit all over the South, Midwest, Northeast, and even to
Newfoundland.
From the late 1950s to the early 1960s Louis took night classes in electrical
engineering at Arlington State College (now University of Texas at Arlington). In
1962 and 1963 he attended Texas Christian University, enrolled in fine arts and
business courses. Although Zapata never earned a degree, he nevertheless accu-
36
mulated ninety hours of college credit.
He describes himself as a loner, who likes to mind his own business, yet
Louis Zapatas intelligence and political acumen as a union representative made
him a natural for politics. Friend Pat Reece, a former city councilman, repeatedly
Louis Zapata circa 1950.

Photo courtesy of Consuelo
Zapata Narvaez.
Challenges 189
urged Louis to involve himself in city government and, in 1971, made the surprise
announcement that Zapata had been appointed to the citys human relations
commission. In 1973 and 1974 Zapata was chairman of the commission and
introduced the affirmative action plan, which set up guidelines for hiring and
promoting employees of the city. From 1975 to 1977 Louis lived in Mexico on
assignment with the U.S. State Departments Agency for International
Development, returning to run for city council.
While Louis was in Mexico, his political friend, Pat Reece, called to tell him
that voters had approved the citywide referendum establishing single-member
districts. This referendum increased the chances of non-Anglo candidates
winning positions on the city councilin the past Hispanic candidates such as
37
Juanita (Pete) Zepeda and Joe Lazo were defeated under the at-large system.
Pat Reece then stunned Louis by nominating him for the 1977 race for District
38
Two. A coalition of both Anglo and Hispanic supporters enthusiastically
pledged to raise funds and run his campaign from a headquarters on the sixth
39
floor of the downtown Sheraton Hotel (now the Radisson).
Louis Zapata and seven other candidatesfour Anglos and three
Hispanicsannounced their intentions to enter the race for District Two. Among
the more prominent Anglos were Wade Benowski, the well-known former head
of the food service division of the Fort Worth Independent School District and
chief elder of the Midtown Church of Christ, and Danny Aston, the youthful
vice-president of Aston Meat Company, who had strong support from younger
voters. Louis three Hispanic opponents included Pete Zepeda, Jos Gonzalez,
a respected and astute community activist who was executive director of Fuera de
los barrios, and Pedro Ayala. Zapata faced a formidable challenge from highly
qualified and better-known candidates; his campaign was handicapped by his
two-year absence from the city. In a brilliant marketing effort to overcome the
lack of name recognition, he put a red, white, and green poster bearing the
words Vote Zapata and Viva Zapata on every bus in the city. Puzzled citizens
everywhere probably wondered Zapata who? but in the end the bold strategy
40
produced the desired results.
The surprising outcome of the 1977 election for District Two was a runoff
between the top vote getter, Wade Benowski, and the dark-horse candidate,
Louis J. Zapata. Zapata and his campaign staff decided to concentrate their
efforts and funds on the neighborhoods where a survey showed his appeal was
greater, and they did a superb job of blanketing the Diamond Hill, North Side,
and Washington Heights areas with calls and literature.
An exultant Louis Zapata was sworn in on April 19, 1977the first
Hispanic city councilman in the history of Fort Worth. The largest crowd of
Hispanics ever to assemble at city hall included family, friends, and supporters
who were there to witness the historic event.
Louis was an effective councilman and was re-elected for six more two-year
terms. He holds the record for length of service on Fort Worths city council
(1977-1991). In 1991 Carlos Puente defeated the esteemed politician using the
slogan Its time for a change!41
As if all these responsibilities were not enough, in 1983 the enterprising
42
Zapata opened a funeral home in a rented mansion located at 2200 Hemphill.
In 1988 he bought the old Robert Halls Clothing Store at 2301 Ephriham Avenue
and with his daughter, Patricia Ann, and continued to operate the funeral home
43
from that location until he sold the business in 1992.
The former councilman now spends time working as consultant from an
office located near Meacham Field. Autographed pictures of former Speaker of the
House Jim Wright and Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez on his office walls join
the dozens of plaques from various community organizations that express appre-
ciation for Zapatas dedicated service on their behalf. Like his father before him,
Louis Zapata has a sense of peace and fulfillment gained from his years of service
to others.
Community activists Rufino Mendoza, Sr., and Jr., were instrumental in

ensuring that all Hispanic children receive equal educational opportunities.
Charter members of the Mexican American Educational Advisory Committee
(MAEAC), the Mendozas were part of a group that boldly took on the Fort Worth
Independent School Districtand won.
Rufino Mendoza, Sr., was born on September 9, 1927, in Pittsburg,
Oklahoma, to Apolonio and Petra Rodrguez Mendoza. Originally from Irapuato,
Challenges 191
Guanajuato, Apolonio and Petra came to the United States in the early 1920s
during the influx of refugees following the Mexican Revolution. He worked in the
coal mines in Michigan and Oklahoma and later was assigned to track mainte-
nance for the Texas & Pacific Railroad in Fort Worth. The family returned to
Mexico at the start of the Great Depression, but Mexico, still reeling from the
aftershocks of the Revolution and the Cristero Rebellion (1926-1929), continued
to be a difficult place to scratch out a living. The Mendozas returned to Fort
44
Worth around 1935.
They lived briefly on Spring Street (El TP) and then moved to another
45
enclave of working-class Mexicanos off Vickery at 819 Jarvis Avenue. Rufino
became a driver for Westex Produce Company, delivering goods to customers in
La Loma and North Side.
In 1945 and 1946 Rufino was a sergeant in an army infantry unit stationed
in post-war Europe. After his service the G.I. Bill enabled Rufino, who had not
finished high school, to attend trade school. In 1951 he took a job with the post
46
office as one of Fort Worths first Mexican American mail carriers.
Rufino Mendoza, Sr., married Martina Franco on January 13, 1947.
Martina, the daughter of farmers Reynaldo and Victoria Ozuna Franco, was born
on April 14, 1930, in Karnes City, Texas. The Francos came to Fort Worth in 1937,
47
where Reynaldo found work at both Swift and Armour.
Rufino and Martina Mendoza eventually had nine children: Rufino, Jr.,
born in November 1947, and siblings Jorge, David, Rebecca, Ralph, Eduardo,
Ricardo, Melissa, and Melinda. Rufinos commitment to community service
began when Father Hoover, a priest at St. Patricks, encouraged his involvement
with the Fishers, a service-oriented parish organization, and the St. Vincent de
Paul Society, which provides assistance to the poor. In addition, on Saturdays
and Sundays Rufino drove the church bus to bring children from the Rock
Island barrio for catechism and Mass. Mendoza helped four parishes: St.
Patricks, All Saints, St. Bartholomew, and St. Thomas. Grateful for Rufinos
faithful service, Father Hoover and Father Pat Hazel arranged a scholarship for
Rufino, Jr., to attend Nolan High School. Education was a high priority for
Rufino, Sr., as he knew all too well how lack of education can limit career
48
opportunities.
After work, the elder Mendoza supplemented the family income by mowing
lawns in the Anglo neighborhoods of the North Side. Until the late 1960s, the
area of the North Side west of North Main Street was still predominantly Anglo.
Rufino developed warm relationships with customers all along Gould, Lincoln,
and Park streets: Two elderly ladies, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Nix, practically adopted
him. In fact, when Mrs. Nix died, the family gave Rufino their mothers house at
49
1804 Harrington Street in appreciation for all he had done for her and asked
him to be a pallbearer at her funeral. Later, Mendoza purchased a house at 1100
Park Street from another of his favorite customers.
Rufino Mendoza, Jr., met Gloria Vsquez while both attended school at
Nolan. They married in 1967 when Rufino was twenty and had just become a
cadet at the Fort Worth Police Academy. When he graduated in 1969 Rufino, Jr.,
was the first Hispanic graduate from Fort Worth and only the third in the history
of the academy. In addition to his regular job, Officer Mendoza moonlighted as
In the early 1950s, civic

leader and equal-rights
proponent Rufino Mendoza,
Sr., was honored with the
title of Grand Knight of the
Knights of Columbus. Photo
courtesy of Martina Franco
Mendoza.
Challenges 193
a security guard at Guys and Dolls Ballroom and at the Casino at Lake Worth.
50
He also took classes at the University of Texas at Arlington.
While Rufino, Jr., was a student at UTA, he met Eddy Herrera, a professor
who inspired him to become more concerned about public issues affecting
Hispanics. In May 1971 Herrera invited about sixty community leaders to a meet-
ing at All Saints Catholic Church to address these issues by forming the seven-
member Mexican American Educational Advisory Committee (MAEAC). Both
Mendozas, father and son, were named to the committee, and Mendoza, Sr., was
elected chairman. MAEACs purpose was to aggressively advocate quality educa-
tional opportunities for Mexican Americans with the Fort Worth Independent
School District. They demanded more Hispanic teachers and administrators and
recognition of Mexicanos as a separate ethnic group with distinct needs.51 In
December 1971, after six futile months of urging the school board to address the
committees petitions, MAEAC filed the first class-action lawsuit against the Fort
Worth Independent School District. MAEAC originally hired attorney Ron
Fernndez to file the lawsuit, but, as the case dragged on, the committee later
retained Austin attorney Geoffrey Gay and Dallas barrister Bill Garrett. After
almost ten years of legal wrangling, an agreement was finally reached in 1981
with Superintendent Carl Candoli, who was receptive to the needs of the
Mexican American community. Because of the Mendoza Lawsuit, by the mid-
1990s the district employed seventy Hispanic administrators and more than two
52
hundred teachers. A second lawsuit to secure single-member district voting in
school board elections was filed in November 1991. The first settlement came
three years later in March 1994 and the second in October of the same year.
On Friday, May 29, 1992, while mowing his lawn, Rufino Mendoza, Sr.,
had a serious heart attack that left him in a coma for twenty-six dayshe died on
June 25, 1992. The funeral procession was miles long. Few people remembered
seeing so many flowers and so many mourners at one funerala fitting tribute to
53
a man who loved and cared deeply for his family and his community.
The first Hispanic elected to the Fort Worth Independent School District
board of trustees, Carlos Puente has a long history of community activism, espe-
cially with voter registration programs. Born in Galveston on July 29, 1944, Carlos
Puente was the fifth and youngest child of Genaro Badillo Puente and Mara
Guadalupe Mendoza Puente, both from Mexico. Genaros family fell on hard
times after his father abandoned them. For a time, Genaro shined shoes in
Monterrey; then the family emigrated to Webster, Texas, in search of better jobs.
Genaro Puentes and Lupe Mendozas paths crossed in Webster, where Genaro
worked for a nursery and Lupe was a housekeeper for an Anglo family. The two
54
married in Houston at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in 1932.
From the beginning of their marriage Galveston served as home base for the
Puentes. Genaro worked as a stevedore on the docks, and Lupe stayed home car-
ing for a growing family that included Genaro, Jr., Mara Elena (Mary), Avelina
(Billie), Rebecca (Becky), and Carlos.
Carlos Puente attended Galveston public schools until, influenced by other
boys, he dropped out in the ninth grade. For two years he worked at a TV repair
shop, fixing televisions and installing antennas. He soon realized that quitting
school had been a mistake and set about obtaining his G.E.D. In 1962 he enrolled
for one year at the Metropolitan Business College, taking bookkeeping and other
business courses. Carlos subsequently worked as a delinquent tax clerk in the
collections office of the Galveston County tax collector-assessor.
Puente met Mara Esther Grimaldo at a social, sparking a romance that led
to their marriage. Mara was born on November 6, 1944, in Nueva Rosita,
Coahuila, one of eleven children born to Jess C. Grimaldo and Theodora
Gonzalez Grimaldo. Her father was a coal miner who became a migrant agricul-
tural worker and brought his entire family to Texas soon after Maras birth.
Carlos and Mara Puentes first child, Jimmy, was born in 1965. In 1966
Carlos was drafted into the Marine Corps and reported for basic training at Camp
Pendleton, California. The young Marine spent thirteen months in Vietnam at
the Marine base at Chu Lai, aboard the USS Okinawa, and at Hu, in the north-
ern part of South Vietnam. Carlos duties were mainly administrativesuch as
typing orders and processing commendations. His tour of duty ended in
November 1968, and he reported to the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry
Point, North Carolina. Two months later, in January 1969, Puente was honorably
55
discharged and returned to Galveston.
Challenges 195
(May 1991) Carlos Puente,

Fort Worth City Councilman.
Arriving in Fort Worth in
1971 from his native
Galveston, Puente became
the first Mexican American
to win a seat on the Fort
Worth ISD Board
(1978-1984). Photo courtesy
of Carlos Puente.
While his wife worked as a statistical typist at an accounting firm, Carlos

worked for Southwestern Bell during the summers. In addition, he resumed his
education by enrolling in Alvin Junior College and then transferring to Galveston
College. Puentes cousin, Carlos de la Torre, who had been with him at Alvin
Junior College, transferred to North Texas State University in Denton.
Encouraged by his cousins move to North Texas, Puente uprooted his family and
headed for Denton where he planned to get a bachelors degree in political
science. In Denton the couple had two more children: Joseph (Joey), born in
1970, and Juan, 1971. A fourth child, Elisa, was born in Fort Worth in 1975.
In August of 1971, after having graduated cum laude with a bachelors degree
in political science, Carlos Puente accepted an internship with the city of Fort
Worth planning department. He moved his family to Fort Worth, found a home
at 3217 Hemphill Street, and began taking graduate courses at the University of
Texas at Arlington. In December 1973, he graduated from UTA with a Masters in

Urban Affairs and began an internship with the Weatherford city manager. This
position gave Puente firsthand experience in the operations of different city
departments.
It did not take long for Carlos Puente to move up to other administrative
challenges. He began working for the North Central Texas Council of
Governments, an agency that covered an eighteen-county area. Until 1977 Puente
worked as a planner for the CETA Manpower program retraining people who
56
either had dropped out of school or were displaced. The Council of
Governments created a new program called the Texas Area Five Health Systems
Agency and hired Puente as a health planning associate. His job was to research
the number of doctors, dentists, nurses, and other health-care professionals
available in the different geographic areas and to ascertain where there were
shortages. The agency also gave tuition incentives to medical students in return
for promising to practice in poor and disadvantaged areas. Puente worked for this
agency until 1982, when President Ronald Reagans conservative fiscal policies
57
dismantled many of these programs.
In 1982 Dr. Ralph L. Willard, president of the Texas College of Osteopathic
Medicine, hired Carlos Puente to be his special assistant in charge of recruiting
minorities for the medical school.58 Puente set out to recruit Texas minority
students who showed promise in spite of their Medical College Admissions Test
59
(MCAT) scores. TCOM established a special eight-week summer program to
introduce seventy students to the world of osteopathic medicine. The students
stayed, by special arrangement, in Texas Christian University dorms. Puente
60
worked for Dr. Willard until 1988.
While Carlos Puente attended North Texas State University (1970-71) he had
become actively involved in politics during the height of the Chicano movement
(1965-1975). When the family moved to Fort Worth Puente met Jos Gonzalez, a
community organizer and Chicano activist. Both Carlos and Mara Puente became
active in voter registration drives to help empower Fort Worths Mexican American
community. In 1972 Puente became the state vice-chairman for the Raza Unida
party in San Antonio. Attracted to the partys pro-familia platform, Carlos focused
all of his energies on getting out the vote. As a result, the Chicano leadership in
Challenges 197
Texas enabled its gubernatorial candidate, Ramsey Muiz, to garner 214,000 votes
against the Democratic party opponent, Dolph Briscoe. Although Briscoe won the
election, this was the high watermark for Chicano politics in the state of Texas.
In the 1974 election Muiz and the Raza Unida party fared worse at the polls,
with only 93,000 votes. Shortly thereafter Carlos and Mara Puente left the party
disillusioned by a succession of events that led to Raza Unidas downfall.61
In 1973, seeing a need for a representative from the Hispanic community on
the Fort Worth ISD board of trustees, the Puentes concentrated their efforts on
running for a seat. In 1978 Carlos Puente was elected to the District One seat,
winning by a razor-thin margin over the Reverend Al Sanford.62 This was the first
election held under the new single-member district plan. Puente was re-elected
to a four-year term in 1980.
Carlos Puente continued to serve the community of Fort Worth in a variety
of ways: as a volunteer sponsor of the Centro Aztln, a community service organi-
zation, as the director of Neighborhood Action, Inc., a part of the Community
Action Agency (1976-1977), as the editor and publisher (1976-1978) of El reporter,
a bilingual newspaper that provided local Mexican Americans information on
pertinent issues and events, and as a Sunday school teacher with North Sides
First Baptist Church.
Carlos Puente chose not to seek another term on the school board because
he and his wife wished to dedicate more time to their family. In 1988, however, he
ran for county commissioner, Precinct Four, as a Republican. Puentes defeat in
this election did not diminish his desire to be a public servant. In 1991 Carlos
Puente defeated Louis J. Zapata in a successful bid for the District Two seat on
the Fort Worth City Council. Carlos is currently Tarrant County chapter chair of
the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Texas and continues to be
involved with his community and church.63
appendix A
L ISTING OF H ISPANIC I NHABITANTS OF NORTH SIDE

Fort Worth City Directory, 1920
NORTH COMMERCE STREET 2112 Zimek, Frank

2113 Marfey, Francisco
(E. 20TH INTERSECTS) 2114 Alvalis, Jos
2000 Cisneris [sic], Octaviano 2115 Hopkins, Mrs. Emma
2001 Flores, Laureano 2117 Lopez, Antonio
2002 Ortiz, Domingo 2122 vacant
2003 Reyes, Mrs. Augustina 2124 Castillo, Mrs. Bellam
2005 Robles, Mariano 2131 Wesley Methodist Episcopal
2006 Reyes, Blas Church
2007 Debalina [sic], Francisco 2134 Kokalis, George
2008 Huerta, Bernardino 2135 Kaladis, John
2009 Phillips, Frank 2137 Gonzales, Florencio
2010 Romero, Philip 2137 Cafusis, John
2011 Barbosa, Manuel 2138 Samanas, John, Gro[cery]
2013 Sanchez, Augustino 2140 Marcus & Vorgis
2015 Cadjew, Mrs. Allie 2141 Gutirrez, Fco, restaurant
2017 Barbosa, Cosme
2019 Majera, Manuel (E. 22ND INTERSECTS)
2020 Lozano, Manuel 2200 Cisneros, Octaviano
2022 Garca, Basilia 2201 Mata, A. M. Gro[cery]
2023 Juran, Joseph 2202 Kaladis, James
2025 Baluris, John 2203 Martnes, Jose
2028 vacant 2204 Metros, Gus
2205 Bernard, Jess
(E. 21ST INTERSECTS) 2206 Farfan, Henry
2103 Menchaca, Francisco 2207 Cepeda, Ennis
2104 Duran, Anselmo 2208 Spinas, Steve
2105 Cabrero, Domingo 2210 Amaro, Teofilo
2106 Pavlis, Nicolas 2211 Leskie, Mrs. Helen
2107 Gonzales, Francisco 2212 Fuentez, Polito
2213 vacant 2122 Romenes, Costanza

2215 De Arseben, Crus 2123 Snodgrass, Mrs. Mary
2216 Perez, Philip 2124 Castillo, Jess
2217 Mendoza, Cecilia 2125 Garca , Pablo
2218 Czybiak, Henry
2219 Delgado, Jesus (E. 22ND INTERSECTS)
2221 Garza, Damaro 2200 Podilla [sic], Mrs. Maria
2223 Burling S. J., trunkmaker 2201 Ayala, Pedro
2228 Balkin Cold Drink Stand 2202 Gomez, Francisco
2230 Balkin Cold Drink Stand 2203 Aguilar, Jess
2131 Cardanas [sic], Rev. A. R. 2204 Sendebos, Antonio
2132 Pavlis, John 2205 Gutirrez, Mrs. Beatrice
2133 Travino [sic], Jose 2206 Jimenez, Bonifacio
2207 Lopez, Jose
NORTH CALHOUN STREET 2210 Roche [sic], Elias
2211 vacant
(E. 21ST INTERSECTS) 2212 Guadalupe, Araiza
2100 Espinosa, Henry 2213 vacant
2101 vacant 2214 Escabido, Ramon
2102 Bracharach, Frank 2216 Sordia, Victoriano
2104 Sinek, Joseph 2218 Negrete, Jesus
2106 Cihacek, J. W. 2220 Voguida, Tomas
2110 Freyillo, Lino
2111 Reyes, Guadalupe NORTH GROVE STREET
2112 Toledo, Thomas 1302 Ramrez, Aurelio
2113 Sanchez, Alex 1400 Solazara, Juan
2114 Barber, Francisco 2001 Garca, Heraldo
2115 Toledo, Tacinto 2007 Morales, Eradio
2116 Saldano [sic], Severino 2009 Chavis, Mrs. Liberatha
2117 Garca, Celso 2010 Alonco [sic], Augustine
2118 Sanchez, Alexander 2011 Gonzales, Marcelino
2119 Cruz, Mrs. Mendes 2012 Ramos, Jess
2120 Gentle, Lee 2013 Hernandez, Concepcion
2121 Domnquez, Preceliano 2015 Golcoe [sic], Macario, grocery
2017 Frausto, Guadalupe
appendix B
WESLEY COMMUNITY HOUSE

D AILY S CHEDULE , 1932-1933
Monday
9:00-11:30 A.M. Kindergarten
2:00- 4:00 P.M. Sewing government material
2:30- 4:00 Mothers Club
4:00- 5:00 Campfire Girls
4:00- 6:00 Manual training
4:30- 5:30 Dispense government flour
4:00- 6:00 Football practice
Tuesday
2:45- 3:00 P.M. Young Mothers Cooking Class
4:00- 5:15 Girls Cooking Class
7:00- 8:00 Choral hour
8:00- 9:00 Hi-Y
Wednesday
3:00- 4:00 P.M. Parent Teacher Club
4:00- 5:15 Girls Sewing School
2:00- 5:00 Music lessons
7:00- 8:00 Basketball practice
Thursday
4:00- 5:00 P.M. Girl Reserves
Thursday (continued)
10:00-2:00 Music lessons
Friday
4:30- 5:30 P.M. Dispense government flour
Saturday
9:00-11:30 A.M. Clinic - rummage
9:00-12:00 Football games
1:00- 2:00 P.M. Childrens piano classes
2:00- 3:00 Young peoples piano classes
appendix C
WESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER

R EPORT, CIRCA 1953, ON PAULITA GUTIERREZ S [ SIC ] EXPE -
1
RIENCE WITH THE CENTER
Although Paulita Gutierrez was born in Texas, she lived in a Spanish-speaking

community and never learned to speak English. It did not matter so much there,
because no one else spoke it either. But when she married Amador and moved to
Ft. Worth, she was often puzzled and stayed closely at home rather than venture
far afield in the Anglo world.
At first they rented a little house on North Side, east of Main Street. Before
long she heard her neighbors speak of Wesley House and of goings on there. She
saw the workers employed there going about the community calling on those
who had needs of one kind or another. In the early days of Wesley House many
of the social agencies helpful to family welfare did not exist, and Wesley House
administered relief, health services, and family counseling freely.
Next she heard about the kindergarten and learned that little children
were taught English and many other things they needed. She had ideals for her
children and for her home life and wanted all the help available. So she sent her
little girls to the kindergarten. The teacher was kind and sympathetic, and
Paulita was pleased with the care and teaching they received. Then, one by one,
her girl[s] were old enough for school, and because they had learned English,
the[y] made good progress. As they grew older, they joined other activi-
ties[]sewing club, cooking club, Girl Reserves, and took piano lessons.
Meanwhile, her boys, who were younger, took their places, first in the
kindergarten, then in various boys clubs, Boy Scouts, athletic teams, playground
and work shop.
About the time the youngest was half grown, they moved to a neat well-built
house of their own, still not far from Wesley House, and her children, now young
people, continued to come to activities. Lenore came to the Glamor Girls Club
and leaned how to dress and fix her hair attractively. Sometimes the girls enter-
tained the boy friends, too. Later, she came to the Horizon Club and it was there
Lenore met Joe. At first, they merely looked shyly at each other, but in a few
months they were planning their home. The first year after her marriage, she
helped the Wesley House staff in the kindergarten and proved valuable because of
her knowledge of Spanish and her understanding of little folks problems. She
and Joe also came to square dancing parties and are now looking forward to
enrolling Ernest in kindergarten in 1954.
Paulitas boys, too, found friends at Wesley House. It was there that Junior
met Madeline, and they too established a home. They are now sponsors for a
youth organization at Wesley House.
Paulita herself came to Wesley House, too; she was the most faithful
member of the Mothers Club for several year[s]. There she learned more about
American ways of home making, and the experience helped her become the
present efficient leader of the Womans Society at her church. From buying the
family clothing at the rummage sales, she has come to help manage them, and her
cheery smile is familiar to all the customers.
She has reason to feel that through the influence of Wesley House, her
home and family became stabilized, so that her husband and sons have been more
successful in their business life, and their homes are made happier. At least
partly because of Wesley House, her family has passed from the receiving to the
giving of service.
appendix D
M EDICINAL H ERBS AND T HEIR U SES 2
Marysol Garza believes in the natural healing properties of special herbs and
carries an ample supply of most of them in her store. She explained the various
uses for the following herbs:
Activol, to overcome a lethargic condition.

Ajenjible, for heart problems.
Altamisa, (not for intake) contains mysterious properties said to ward off bur-
glars and vandals; wrap around ones waist to ensure strength for long
walks; boil in water to relieve tired feet.
Anise, to overcome ill-humor; sadness; for nervous stomach.
Basl, for kidney ailments; rheumatism; headaches; spice for foods.
Burraja, for intestinal fevers; rheumatism; high temperature; high blood pres-
sure.
Cscara de Nogal (pecan shell), to enrich red-blood cells.
Cuasia, for the gall bladder.
Cenizo, (used externally in baths) for depression.
Estafiate, for stomach infections; indigestion; bloated feeling.
Flor de Arnica, for internal bruises.
Flor de Pea, for good luck; to remove heart pressures.
Flor de Sauco, for heart problems.
Flor de Tila Roja, to ease and eliminate a nervous crisis.
Golondrina, boil and apply to skin to eliminate ulcerous conditions; warts.
Gordolobo, for chest colds.
Ipasote, for eliminating intestinal parasites; for cooking.
Manzanilla, for the elimination of intestinal gases.
Marrubio, to lower sugar levels and regulate diabetes.
Mejorana, to help in losing weight; for cooking in meats.
Mirra, (to burn) to bring good luck; good fortune.
Nervina, to overcome nervousness; insomnia; memory lapses.
Nuez Moscada (nutmeg), for nervousness; for pies.

Ojas de Boldo, for chest colds; constipation; pneumonia.
Ojo de Venado (deers eye), to be hung on the clothing of an infant or child in
order to ward off, overcome, or defeat the effects of the evil eye.
Oregano, to end phlegm; coughing; as a spice for foods.
Palo Amargoso, for intestinal parasites; for gall bladder.
Palo Azul, for the kidneys and urinary tract.
Perejil, for losing weight; for cooking.
Piedra Alumbre, (not for internal consumption) for sweeping over a person,
principally over the area of the heart and the mind. Prayers are recited and
then the white crystal is burned. The spirit that has harmed the person is
supposed to appear in the smoke.
Pimentn, to make a pesky individual go away; used in foods.
Prodigiosa, for urinary problems.
Quina Rosa, for loose gums (boil and hold in mouth then spit out).
Raz de Anglica, for colic; menstrual cramps; organ cleansing.
Raz de Manzo, for internal pains; gas.
Rosa de Castilla, a laxative.
Ruda, to eliminate heart palpitations; lack of menstruation.
Sacte de Limn, a soothing tea.
Semilla de Cilantro, for gall bladder; also for cooking; pies, breads.
T de Cena, a laxative.
T del Mes, to counter the absence of menstruation.
Tlanchichinola, for back or leg pains; bronchial ailments.
Yerba buena, for stomach ailments; colic; diarrhea.
Yerba San Nicols, to counter inflammation of the ovaries.
Zarzaparrilla, for urinary problems; rheumatism; a spice used to flavor
pork meat.
Zazafrs, to overcome dizzyness; emotional drain; for cooking.
Notes
INTRODUCTION
1 Stanley Ross. Porfirio Daz (1830-1915). Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.
http:// go.grolier.com/Encyclopedia Americana. (October 2, 2002).
2 Robert Patch. Porfirio Daz. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.
http://go.grolier.com:80/Grolier/Multimedia Encyclopedia. (October 2, 2002).
3 Cindy Baxman. History of the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920. Border Revolution. May 15,
1998. http://history.acusd.edu/gen/projects/border/page03.html. (October 2, 2002).
4 Robert A. Calvert and Arnoldo De Len. The History of Texas (Arlington Heights, Ill: Harlan
Davidson, Inc. 1990), 242.
CHAPTER ONE
1 Janet Schmelzer. Fort Worth, Texas. The Handbook of Texas Online. The Texas State
Historical Association, 1997-2002.
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/FF/hdf1.html. (October 6, 2002).
2 Bud Kennedy. Ten moments that shaped Fort Worth, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 6,1999.
3 Abstract of the Twelfth Census of the U.S.: 1900. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office.
4 Tenth Census of the U.S.: 1880. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office.
5 The city directories are available at the downtown Fort Worth Public Library.
6 The barrio was on the east side of the site now occupied by the Fort Worth Convention
Center.
7 Gonzales finally changed jobs and worked for the Texas & Pacific Railway for a few years.
8 It is interesting to note that some of the earliest Mexicanos boarded with Anglos such as John
G. Carper and Susan H. Price. If prejudice had been universal, this would never have
occurred.
9 Rusk Street was renamed Commerce Street between 1907 and 1920. A 1920 Fort Worth street
map by Bartholomew and Associates displays the new name, while a 1907 city map by J. E.
Head & Company still referred to the thoroughfare as Rusk Street.
10 Jerry Adams. Trade Token Tales.
http://members.fortunecity.com/tokenguy/tokentales/page39.htm. (November 22, 2002).
11 Samuel (Sammy) C. Pantoja, interview with the author, August 24, 1994, in Fort Worth.
12 Amador Gutirrez Mercado and Madeleine Rangel Gutirrez, interview with the author, March
30, 1994, in Fort Worth. Antonio Zapata and his wife, Elena, had their grocery on the corner
of Mills and Valley. Filiberto Briones had a small grocery store and bakery at the corner of
Cherry and East Bluff streets.
13 Fort Worth edged out other Texas cities in the competition to get the Armour and Swift
plants because of two main considerationsthe fact that Cowtown was serviced by so many
railroads and that the companies were offered a bonus of $100,000 by Fort Worth citizens.
14 This information was taken from a 1913 Fort Worth City Guide reprinted through the services
of the Fort Worth Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration, document number
18429.
15 A survey of the Fort Worth city directories from 1904 to 1940, particularly in the section list-
ing residents by street, bears this fact out. In addition, a 1934 Wesley Community House
report stated that ninety-five percent of the community was Mexican. (Fort Worth Public
Library, Genealogy and Local History archives. Wesley Community House Records, Box 2,
Folder 4, Wesley Community House, Fort Worth, Texas, 1.)
16 It would appear from the 1905-1906 city directory that the first Mexicanos in North Fort
Worth lived at 2012 North Grove and at 2207 North Calhoun.
17 Michael and Hope Ayala, interview with the author, January 26, 1998, in Fort Worth. This
neighborhood was immediately north of where M. G. Ellis Elementary School stoodnow a
parking lot. When it rained pedestrians were forced to go around the creek via North Main
Street. This tributary of Marine Creek no longer exists today. Street improvements and large-
diameter underground concrete pipe silenced the pujidos (groans) forever.
18 The Ayalas could not remember the names of the Garca boys.
19 Ayala interview, January 26, 1998.
20
Benito Soto Mercado, interview with the author, March 30, 1994, in Fort Worth.
21 La Yarda literally translated means the Yard. It was located about one mile east of Meacham
Field.
22 Mercado interview, March 30, 1994.
23 Oliver Knight, Fort Worth: Outpost on the Trinity (Fort Worth: TCU Press, 1990), 95.
24
The following Mexicanos lived at these Ellis Avenue addresses: Campos Rodrguez, 2600; E.
S. Guardado, 2602; Valente Ochoa, 2604; Gasinto Aguilera, 2606; and Stephen Losano, 2608.
25
The original Texas & Pacific roundhouse was located about where Commerce Street intersects
with Interstate 30.
26
Robert Pulido, Sr., interview with the author, February 18, 1998, in Fort Worth. Tony and
Juanita Rodrguez are the parents of Carol, who became the wife of Robert Pulido, Sr.
27
Knight, Fort Worth, 198.
28
Entries for all five individuals, except one, noted that each resided near the plant. David
Rodrguez was listed as boarding with Hezekiah Culwell, who lived in the Brooklyn Heights
area of Fort Worth.
29
Fort Worth Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration, document number
7853, based on a news article from the Fort Worth Record, March 22, 1914.
30
Fort Worth Record, March 24, 1914.
31
Fort Worth Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration, documents number
7856 and 7857, taken from the Fort Worth Record, March 29, 1914.
32
A prominent factor that greatly influenced the Anglo-American perception of Hispanics was
rooted in the historical context of la leyenda negrathe black or nefarious legend. Spain had
acquired a contemptible reputation throughout Europe ever since Ferdinand and Isabela
established the Inquisition to unite their fledgling country under one religionRoman
Catholicism. As a result of royal decree, persons of the Hebrew or Islamic faiths had three
choicesconvert to Catholicism, leave Spain, or do nothing and face certain torture and
death. Although the crimes against humanity associated with the Inquisition gave seed to the
black legend, it was the repeated cruelties of the New World conquest and the European
religious wars that nurtured and gave it full bloom.
CHAPTER TWO
1 The name Riley Gonzales appeared for the first time in the Fort Worth City Directory, 1883-
1884.
2 Information on birthdays and places of birth obtained from the 1900 United States Census of
Tarrant County.
3 Fort Worth City Directory, 1916.
4 Fort Worth Public Library, Genealogy and Local History Section. Early Fort Worth Newspaper
Index .
5 The refinery was located on Keller Pike, one mile north of East 28th Street.
6 Dominga (Minnie) Martnez Gutirrez, interview with the author, June 27, 1994, in Fort
Notes 209
Worth. Gregorio Prez, married to Secundinos sister, Augustina, already lived in Fort Worths
South Side, and he made his living working for Texas Steel Company. Later Gregorio and
Augustina left Fort Worth for a better job working for the McCormick farm equipment com-
pany in Chicago.
7 Gutirrez interview, June 27, 1994.
8 Salvador C. and Mara S. Gonzalez, interview with the author, March 26, 1994, in Fort Worth.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Some sources show his name as Juan, some as Ral.
13 Gonzalez interview, March 26, 1994.
14 Ibid.
15 Salvador and Mara eventually had four children, Salvador, III, Ramn, Anna Mara, and Estela.
16 Gonzalez interview, March 26, 1994.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19
Ibid.
20
Each of their four children had four or more daughters, resulting in Salvadors and Maras
nineteen grandchildren and twenty-five great-grandchildren.
21
Gonzalez interview, March 26, 1994.
22
Mary Martnez Garza and Yvonne (Kiki) Martnez Cisneros, interview with the author,
January 29, 1998, in Fort Worth. According to family members, Martnez was not the original
family surname. Although their father, Pete, had, at one time, told them, they couldnt
remember the name. The daughter of Juan and Julia Ocampo, Elena Ocampo Martnez was a
distant relative of Mexican political figure, Melchor Ocampo.
23
The family home at 1419 North Calhoun Street is still owned by the children of Pete and
Elena Martnez. One of Petes grandchildren lives there as of this writing.
24
Mike Martnez married Virginia Dowel, the daughter of a police chief, who, although originally
against the marriage, came to appreciate and love his latino son-in-law. Virginia had connec-
tions with show businessshe danced with Billy Roses musical productions in Fort Worth at
Casa Maana and at his Diamond Horseshoe nightclub in New York City; her sister, Mary,
was Stuttering Sam, another of Billy Roses performers, and her cousin was Ginger Rogers.
Mike became the first Mexicano to be a member of the Colonial Country Club and bought a
house directly across the street from the club.
25
Garza and Cisneros interview, January 29, 1998.
26
Ibid.
27 Michael and Hope Ayala, interview with the author, March 25, 1994, in Fort Worth. Eutimio and
Mara Ayala had fourteen children: Estanislao (Stanley), owner, Don Ayalas Mexican Restaurant
and Cantina, Acton, Texas; Isabel A. Gonzalez; Mara Anna Contreras; Carmen A. Felipe; a son
who requested anonymity; Michael Ortiz, married to Esperanza (Hope) Padilla,; Mara Rosa
Herrera; Luis Gilberto (Louis), married Dlia Prez and is the owner of Ayala Barbershop, 1537
N. Main; Mara Dolores Mndes; Francisco Jess, married Sara Martnez; Socorro A., married to
Rodolfo Herrera, Zsimos nephew; Juanita A. Ruelas; Mara Teresa Miranda; and Juan
(Johnny) Eutimio, who is married to Dora Prez and who organized the 1960s band Johnny
Ayala and the Starlighters. Eutimios job at Swift & Company was curing hams and beef.
28 Michael and Hope Ayala, interview with the author, February 16, 1998, in Fort Worth. Mama
Reginas five children were Rosalo, Romn, Fermn, Ruperta (Marcelino Padilla), and Mara
(Amaro Herrera). Margarito R. Padilla passed away May 20, 1970.
29 Fannie Cancino Mntez, interview with the author, February 20, 1998, in Fort Worth.
Macarios parents were Antonio Loredo and Luisa Castillo; Angelas parents were Severiano
Tobas and Teresa Prez. Lina (Linita) died in infancy of diphtheria in Mexico.
30 Mntez interview, February 20, 1998. Angela naively thought that merely by coming to the
border she would find her son.
31 Catalinas diet included fresh vegetables and fruits, oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, and beans with
cilantro (coriander).
32 Although Refugio is often a mans name, Telsforo Cancinos mother was given that name.
Romn Rodrguez Cancino was brother to Fernando Cansino, who had a dance studio in San
Antonio and was the father of Margarita Cansino, also known as Rita Hayworth. Romn chose
to spell his surname with a c, whereas Fernando spelled it with an s. Fannie Cancino
Mntez worked for thirty-nine years at Monnigs Department Store as a visual merchandizing
assistant.
33 Mntez interview, February 20, 1998. The couple had eight children: Epifania (Fannie),
Refugio (Ruth), Paulo (Paul), Mara Leticia (Leticia), Feliciano (Felix), Catalina
(Cathy), Francisco (Frank), and Luis. An African American doctor delivered Fannie not
long after her parents had arrived in Mexia.
34 Catalinas mother, Angela, had somehow found Francisco and they were living in Fort Worth.
35 Mntez interview, February 20, 1998.
36 Yahualica is located about fifty miles northeast of Guadalajara.
37 Romn and Helen Soto Mercado, interview with the author, June 15, 1994, in Fort Worth.
Romn and Atilanas nine children were: Mara (Federico Ramos), Antonia (Juan Medrano),
Cayetana, married to Anselmo (Sam) Castillo, Guadalupe (Febe Lpez), Benito (Elisa
Castro), Romn (Helen Flores), Antonio (Margaret Arteaga), and Josefina (Tony Vsquez). The
first two were born in Yahualica, the rest were born in Fort Worth.
38
Samuel (Sammy) C. Pantoja, interview with the author, August 24, 1994, in Fort Worth.
39
Ibid.
40 Benito Cardona, III, interview with the author, February 4, 1998, in Fort Worth. Ester
Cardona married Pasqual Ruiz, a well-to-do cattle rancher and landowner who lived near
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Their children: Vito Ruiz, of Laredo; Pasqual, who became
a pilot; Guillermo; Ricardo; and Augusto. Raquel Cardona married Santos Mireles, a Baptist
preacher. Aida Cardona married Jonas Sepulveda, formerly of Laredo, who came to Fort
Worth in late 1922, lived on the North Side, and worked for Swift & Company for almost
twenty-six years (1922-1948).
41 Jonas Sepulveda, interview with the author, August 13, 1994, in Grand Prairie. Panadera la
india (The Female Indian Bakery) was popularly referred to by locals as la panadera de los
franceses (the bakery of the French).
42 Cardona interview, February 4, 1998.
43 Vito Ruiz, telephone interview with the author, January 2003. Eager to acquire colonies
abroad, Napoleon III used the pretext of Mexicos inability to pay back loans to send a French
army of occupation in 1862. He persuaded an unemployed Hapsburg, Maximiliano, to be the
Emperor of Mexico. The French finally succeeded in capturing Mexico City and drove out
Benito Jurez and his government. As a government-in-exile, Jurez took refuge in the north-
ern state of Chihuahua, waiting while French resolve and support weakened. By 1867
Napoleon recalled his troops from Mexico, leaving Maximiliano with little support.
Maximilianos army finally surrendered in Quertaro, and he was executed in a place called El
cerro de las campanas (the Hill of the Bells).
45 Benito Cardona, Sr., was also known as El Colorado (red) and El Gero (blondie).
47 Ibid.
48 A Baptist preacher, Mireles was pastor of La primera iglesia bautista (First Baptist Church),
located on the northwest corner of Central Avenue and North Jones Street.
49 Only two brothers survived. Rafael and Manuel Martnez relocated to Tampa, Florida, and
continued to make a living hand-rolling cigars.
50 The Little Mexico neighborhood in Dallas was located about ten blocks from Dealey Plaza,
around Fairmont Street.
Notes 211
51 Moises Cardona, also known as Mo or Moche, married Beverly Hellman and had four chil-
drenJohn, David, Mary Jane, and Philip. Benito (Bennie) Cardona married Gloria Martnez
on May 12, 1953, and the couple had four children: Glenda, Bennie, Gloria Jean, and Martn.
53 Ibid.
54 Ibid.
CHAPTER THREE
1
11935, based on an article in the Fort Worth Press, December 2, 1925.
2
Many North Side Mexican residents referred to Calhoun as la Calajn.
3
The Texas & Pacific Roundhouse was originally located about seven blocks west of the origi-
nal stockyards, about where Main and Vickery intersect today.
4
Fort Worth City Directory, 1902-1903.
5
Marcelin was listed in the 1892-1893 city directory as a tailor, dyer, scourer, repairer.
6
Martn Aguilar owned a chile stand and lived at 900 Houston Street; Antonio Estrada, shown
in previous directories as having his own restaurant, was listed here as a chile dealer who
resided at 109 E. 9th Street; Rosalio Hernndez had a chile stand on the north side of East
12th between Calhoun and Rusk streets; Alejandro Losoya was a chile peddler who resided on
the north side of East 12th between Calhoun and Rusk streets (same location as Rosalo
Hernndez); and Louis Rodrguez, listed as a chile dealer, boarded with Antonio Valencia at
907 Calhoun.
7
Listing Cortz along with other barbershops in the city is interesting in that he was not segre-
gated in the city directory as were African American barbers whose establishments were listed
separately under Barber Shops, Colored. Presumably, the surname would alert a potential
customer that this particular barber was Hispanic and not Anglo.
8
9
The names of Juan Gonzales and Mrs. Ramn D. Gonzales appear in the 1892-1893 city
directory as operating a restaurant on the north side of East 12th between Rusk and Calhoun
streets.
10
Two other individuals, Antonio Villanueva and Manuel Visana, also had chile stands at 115
East 13th and 1401 Jennings Avenue, respectively. Along with Severio Lpez, the three were
listed in the 1901-1902 city directory under the heading Restaurants.
11
This address is next door to where Antonio Estrada started his lunch stand at 303 Main Street
(see Figure 3-1).
12
Fort Worth City Directory, 1904-1905 and Fort Worth City Directory, 1905-1906, respectively.
13
14
In the 1899-1900 city directory, Antonio Estrada was listed merely as a Mexican laborer. The
following year (1901-1902) only Mollie (Mrs. Tony) Estrada, residing at 2007 Terry, was listed.
Afterwards (1902-1903), no Estradas made the city directory.
15
The city directory of 1892-1893 shows both Jess Leal and Joseph Leal working and living
with Joseph A. Leal at 311 W. 1st St.
16
Fort Worth Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration, document num-
bers 8717-8719, based on an article in the Fort Worth Record, March 18, 1917.
17
Mario T. Garca. Desert Immigrants: The Mexicans of El Paso, 1880-1920 (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1981).
18
12723, based on an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 2, 1919.
19
Fort Worth Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration, documents num-
ber 14020 and 14021, based on an article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, May 10, 1921.
20
Ramn Anguiano, interview with the author, March 30, 1994, in Fort Worth.
21
ber 4849 and 4851, based on an article in the Fort Worth Press, April 22, 1924.
22
Fort Worth City Directory, 1927 and Fort Worth City Directory, 1926, respectively.
23
ber 14022 and 14023, from an article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, March 22, 1923.
24
Oliver Knight, Fort Worth: Outpost on the Trinity (Fort Worth: TCU Press, 1990), 169.
25
University of Texas at Arlington Library, Special Collections Division. Collection 335, George
W. Armstrong Papers, Vol. I, 3.
26
Alfredo (Freddy) Castillo, interview with the author, June 25, 1994, in Fort Worth.
27
Armstrong Papers, Vol. I, 182.
28
Armstrong Papers, Vol. I, 22.
29
Arnoldo De Len. Ethnicity in the Sunbelt: A History of Mexican Americans in Houston (Houston:
Mexican American Studies Program, University of Houston, 1989), 54.
30
Mario Trujillo, interview with the author, March 30, 1994, in Fort Worth.
31
David Montejano, Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1896 (Austin: University of
Texas Press, 1987), 241.
32 Knight, Fort Worth, 95, 123, 129.
33 Ibid., 203
34 The New Deal was a program (1933-1939) of public works projects initiated by President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) to alleviate some the economic distress brought about
by the Great Depression. The programs ranged from bridge building to a Federal Theater Arts
program.
35 Knight, Fort Worth, 207.
36 Benito Soto Mercado, interview with the author, March 30, 1994, Fort Worth.
37 R. Reynolds McKay, Texas Mexican Repatriation during the Great Depression (Ph.D.
Dissertation, University of Oklahoma at Norman, 1982), 325-326.
38
Pieda served from 1886 to 1898. He enlisted when he was fourteen years of age.
39
Pieda choose South Texas because Spanish was widely spoken, a consideration for a
Spaniard.
40
John J. Kane, interview with the author, July 12, 1994, Fort Worth. (John J. Kane married Eva
Pieda.)
42
Ibid.
42
Joe Holton, interview with the author, March 7, 1994, in Fort Worth.
43
Ibid.
44
Knight, Fort Worth, 209-210, 251.
45
Holton interview, March 7, 1994.
46
Kane interview, July 12, 1994.
47
The couple eventually had three children: Patricia Rae, who made her home in Waxahachie;
John Lawrence, who lives outside Houston in Richmond; and Thomas Francis, who resides in
Arlington.
48
Noche Buena is Christmas Eve, a time when tamales of all kinds are traditionally served.
49
Kane interview, July 12, 1994.
50
Holton interview, March 7, 1994.
51
Ibid.
52
Ibid.
53
Gregorio Esparza, Jr., interview with the author, March 17, 1994, in Fort Worth.
54
In Spanish-speaking societies, a mothers maiden name (in this case, Garca) has been tradi-
tionally added on after the fathers last name (Tafolla). Joes real surname, therefore, is Tafolla.
There were undoubtedly several reasons why he might have chosen to use his mothers maid-
en name as the family surname perhaps it was easier to recognize and pronounce.
Notes 213
55
Hope Garca Lancarte and Mary Garca Christian, interview with the author, March 2, 1994,
in Fort Worth.
56
Ibid.
57
Ibid.
58
Ibid.
59
Ibid.
60
Ibid.
61
Ibid.
62
A shotgun house measured about twelve feet wide by thirty-six feet deep. There were three
rooms in a row with openings for doors in exactly the same place. Supposedly one could fire a
shotgun into the house from the front door and the buckshot would go right through the
three rooms and out the back. The first room was usually a combination living room-bed-
room; the second was a bedroom; and the third was a combination kitchen-dining room. The
outhouse would be located at the rear of the backyard, usually near the alley.
63
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Cagigal, interview with the author, March 30, 1994, in Fort Worth.
64
Part of the reason for leaving Spain was the lingering after-effect of the Carlist Wars. Orencios
father had been killed in that bloody conflict, and the sons desire for vengeance prompted his
sister (Paca) to take him away to Cuba.
65
Elisa Acua was born on June 13, 1893, in the community of La Rosita, Nuevo Len,
Mexico. The Acua children included: Toms, a successful merchant; Monica, a seamstress
in San Antonio; Cleofitas, a traveling salesman who worked from his automobile; Elisa, who
married Orencio; Pablo, the black sheep of the family; and Ramona. La Rosita, Nuevo Len,
is near the northern Mexico industrial city of Monterrey.
66
Orencio built a two-story house at 2028 North Commerce Street that still stands to this day.
He built other houses, as well as provided remodeling and repair services. He even did plumb-
ing work.
67
Cagigal interview, March 30, 1994.
68
Ibid.
69
Amador G. and Madeliene R. Gutirrez, interview with the author, March 25, 1994, in Fort
Worth.
70
During the 1920s Rafael and Isidra Valle operated a restaurant in the downtown area at 1312-
B Calhoun and lived at 705 West 1st Street.
71
Gutirrez interview, March 25, 1994.
72
Sara Garza Barajas Gallegos, interview with the author, July 2, 1998, in Fort Worth.
73
Rosa bore eight children. Two died in infancy. With the exception of Alejandro, Sr., all were
born in Mexico.
74
Sara Gallegos interview, July 2, 1998.
75
Ibid.
76
Ibid.
77
Ibid.
78
Alejandro Gallegos, Sr., interview with the author, February 18, 1994, in Fort Worth.
79
Ibid.
80
There was a rooming house between the Marine theater and Los Alamos restaurant.
81
Flautas consist of shredded chicken meat rolled up into a corn tortilla and fried in a pan.
82
Sara Gallegos interview, July 2, 1998.
83
Ibid.
84
Robert Pulido, Sr., interview with the author, February 18, 1998, in Fort Worth. Dolores
Pulidos wifes name was Mara Nrez.
85
Pulido interview, February 18, 1998.
86
Dolores and Mara Pulido had a total of nine children five boys and four girls.
87
Argyle is about twenty-five miles north of Fort Worth.
88
El Papalote was located immediately southeast of the present-day I-30 and I-35 interchange.
89
90
Philip Pulido owns Don Felipes Restaurant, at 4216 West Vickery Boulevard in Fort Worth.
Shannon (Chano) Pulido had already passed away.
91
Mary Pulido married Edward Gmez, whose maternal grandfather, a Cullar, began the
El Chico Restaurant chain. Rodolfo (Rudy) Pulido married Angie Medina, whose father
worked for Swift & Company. Robert Pulido, Sr., married Carol Rodrguez, the daughter
of a T & P worker.
92
93
Around 1963, the Pulido homestead at 2921 Spring Street was sold to the Underwood
Typewriter Company and razed some years later. After 1963 Pedro and Dionicia Pulido moved
to Benbrook.
94
Spring Street was called that because of the creek that originated from a spring in the Botanic
Gardens and made its way toward the Clear Fork of the Trinity River.
95
Each little round of cheese measured roughly one and-one-half inches thick and about three
inches in diameter. Mexican asadero cheese is a soft, white cheese used as a topping for chalu-
pas or for melting in a tortilla (a quesadilla).
96
97
Robert Pulido, Sr., attended Brooklyn Heights Elementary School, Stripling Junior High, and
Arlington Heights High School. At Arlington Heights there were only three Mexicanos
Robert and his two older brothers.
98
99
Employees were allowed only thirty minutes for lunch, between twelve and twelve-thirty.
100
101
Robert and Carol Pulidos children are Robert, Jr., Angie, and Melissa.
102
103
Ibid.
104
Ibid.
105
The Texas & Pacific Railroad was bought out by the Union Pacific Railroad in the mid-1960s.
106
Dionicia still fixes breakfast, a hearty meal that is brought warm to the tortilla factory daily for
the family to enjoy. Papas con huevo, frijoles refritos, tamales de puerco, and tortillas de mas consti-
tute breakfast.
107
The tortilla factory is located at 7601 Benbrook Parkway; the tamale factory at 4924 Old
Benbrook Road.
108
109
Leonard Menchaca, interview with the author, February 19, 1998, in Fort Worth.
110
The Katy referred to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway.
111
The Menchacas children were Juan, Mara, Antonia, Cecilia who all died in infancy; Vicenta,
Leonardo (Leonard), Santos (died at seven), Mara, Manuel (died at nineteen), and Tomasita
(passed away).
112
Menchaca interview, February 19, 1998.
113
This area is now the Rockwood Golf Course.
114
This man was no relation to North Side resident Bennie Cardona.
115
116
Ibid.
117
Ibid.
118
Ibid.
119
Garca had a grocery store on North Jones Street.
120
121
Ibid.
Notes 215
122
Ramona Alvarez was born in 1924 at Mason City, Iowa. Her parents worked in the sugar beet
fields in Iowa and Minnesota.
123
124
Louis Ayala, interview with the author, September 9, 1994, in Fort Worth.
125 Minerva and Jos Jess Domnguez, Jr., interview with the author, March 26, 1994, in North
Richland Hills.
126 Jos Jess probably married Mara Concepcin sometime around 1918. Mara Concepcin
Gonzalez was born in 1896 in Torren, Coahuila, Mexico. Her father, Eduardo Gonzalez, a
revolutionary and follower of Pancho Villa, was blown up on a munitions train by federales
(circa 1921). Eduardos wife, Macaria Barbosa Gonzalez, brought her two daughters, Mara
and Virginia, along with her mother, to El Paso where they found jobs as domestics working
for Anglos employed by the Texas & Pacific Railroad. Moving with these Anglos, they arrived
in Fort Worth around 1914.
127 Prisciliano Domnguez became a well-known and talented commercial artist who designed the
logo for Joe T. Garcas restaurant and drew many of the sketches of legendary Texas
Christian University players and coaches hanging on the walls of the Daniel Meyer Coliseum
on the TCU campus. Pris passed away December 1, 1990.
128 Domnguez interview, March 26, 1994.
129 Ibid.
130 The oldest of Florencios and Felicitas eight children, Eulogio, is still living as of this writing
at age ninety-three. The other children are Isaac (female), Rodolfo, Rafael, Paz, Samuel,
Alberto (still living, age eighty), and Socorro.
131 This was the enterprising Joe T. Garcia.
132 Rudy Rodrguez, interview with the author, February 2, 1998, in Fort Worth.
133 Ibid.
134 Linos first wife (name unknown) died in Mexico when Juanita was a very young child.
135 Rodrguez interview, February 2, 1998.
136 Rudy is currently married to his second wife, Cindy Childers. He has a daughter, Tina Louise,
by his previous marriage and two children by his second wifeShelby Rene and Nicolas
Rudolph. Ernesto is married to Socorro Reyes and they have two children. Ester married Gino
Paris and they also have two children. Alice, now deceased, was married to Tommy Roland
and they had two sons. Ral married Gloria Pacheco. Charles married Leticia.
138 Joe T. Garcia had already moved his grocery and restaurant business one block away to the
corner of North Commerce and Northwest 22nd streets. According to his daughters, Hope
Garcia Lancarte and Mary Garcia Christian, in the early 1930s Joe T. sold his original grocery
store to Antonio El Arabe, who kept it for a few years before selling it to Rodolfo Rodrguez
toward the end of the decade.
140 Rudy Rodrguez attended San Jos School for one year. He then transferred to M. G. Ellis
Elementary, finishing at Circle Park Elementary (now Manuel Jara Elementary) when M. G.
Ellis closed. J. P. Elder Junior High and Technical High School rounded out Rudys formal
education. Rudy took evening classes at Texas Christian University, earning a business degree
in 1980.
141 This was located across the street from the present El Rancho Grande restaurant.
143 The company created tamales filled with beef, pork, or chicken. Bean tamales are made exclu-
sively for export to France.
144 Most of the foods shipped within the United States are destined for states east of Interstate
Highway 35. Sales in the western part of the country are spotty. Because of the high cost of
truck freight, only Colorado, New Mexico, the Phoenix area, and Southern California have
become profitable markets.
145 Their employees tend to be loyalmany workers have been with the company for more than
ten years (a few can claim thirty years of employment). The Rodriguezes host a Christmas din-
ner for employees and their families as well as a fully catered Mothers Day party. Each worker
receives a turkey for Thanksgiving and a large ham for Christmas.
146 Salvador C. Gonzalez, Jr., interview with the author, March 26,1994, in Fort Worth.
147 Francisca had two children, Gloria and Samuel. She married Samuel Picazo, a retired minister
in the United Methodist Church. Pedro Martnez also had two children, Sabino, who lives in
Colorado, and Vangie Martnez Artiaga of Fort Worth. A diabetic, Pedro died one month after
his father on December 19, 1984.
148 Leche quemada is literally translated as burnt milk. It is a tan colored candy made with sugar
and milk.
149 The Martnezes first lived at 1510 E. Bluff (1928-1931), then at 1515 E. Weatherford (1932-
1935).
150 Amalia Martnez Romero, interview with the author, January 30, 1998, in Fort Worth.
151 Consuela Zapata Narvaz, interview with the author, July 18, 1995, in Fort Worth. Jess
Zapata passed away in 1993. Josefina died in 1925, aged two. Carmen Zapata died in January
1984.
152 The pan dulce sold in the store came from Gregorio Esparza, Sr.s, bakery on the North Side.
153 Louis J. Zapata, interview with the author, February 26, 1998, in Fort Worth.
154 Narvaz interview, July 18, 1995.
155 Petra Zavala is the mother of Richard Zavala, Sr., and grandmother of Richard Zavala, Jr., who
is the present director of the Parks and Community Services department of the City of Fort
Worth.
156 Zapata interview, February 26, 1998.
CHAPTER FOUR
1
Lou Caro Whitten, interview with the author, March 30, 1994, in Fort Worth.
2
Besides Caros Restaurant on Bluebonnet Circle close to TCU, there are only two other
known places that serve puffed chips with guacamole: Caros Restaurant in Rio Grande City
and Rositas Restaurant in Laredo.
3
Whitten interview, March 30, 1994.
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Picadillo is a dish made from either ground beef or pork. Half-inch cubes of potatoes may be
included. Guisos or guisados are spicy stews with small cubes of either beef or pork. Cut-up
pieces of potato, carrots, and onions are usually included. Calabacita is a stew that usually con-
tains small cubes of pork meat cooked with cut squash and corn. Cabrito en sangre is a tradi-
tional northern Mexican and border area dish. The meat from a milk-fed kid goat is cooked in
its own blood, which results in a dark sauce. Cabrito asado is a kid goat cooked slowly over
mesquite charcoal. Any border city like Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, will have restaurants that
specialize in serving cabrito asado. Passing by the windows of these restaurants, little Anglo chil-
dren have been known to stare at the cooking goats and remark, Look Mom, theyre cooking
dogs! Frijoles refritos are refried beans; frijoles borrachos (drunken beans) are whole pinto beans
cooked slowly in water with beer added usually in the last hour of cooking.
7
8
These dates are approximate.
9
Lou Caro Whitten estimated the population of Ro Grande City during 1930s to be about 1,500.
10
11
Ibid.
12
Four of the lots were for parking.
13
John Day Whitten was born in Oregon and raised in California. During World War II he
served his country fighting in Europe with the 82nd Airborne unit, which made parachute
jumps over Italy, France, and Germany.
Notes 217
14
15
Ibid.
16
Ibid.
17
Ibid.
18
Las casas coloradas, located either on the 3700 or 3800 block of Hemphill Street across from
the plant, were company-owned housing for the employees of Texas Steel Company. These
red houses were older than the yellow houses, the second housing project the company
built for employees.
19
Dominga (Minnie) Martnez Gutirrez, interview with the author, June 27, 1994, in Fort
Worth.
20
Joss father, Juan Gutirrez, worked in the stockyards. Jos worked as a cook for the Worth
Hotel and later as a chef for Colonial and Rivercrest country clubs.
21
The couple had two children, Gloria (Pablo Ramn) and Gilberto.
22
Pilar Bouzas, interview with the author, June 27, 1994, in North Hollywood, California.
23
Ibid.
24
Ibid.
25
Ibid.
26
Ibid.
27
Michael and Hope Ayala, interview with the author, February 16, 1998, in Fort Worth. Hopes
great grandmother, Mama Regina Mascorro Rodrguez, was the one who began the tradition
of family reunions. Mama Regina died in 1939 at the age of 89.
28
Ayala interview, February 16, 1998.
29
Ibid.
30
Ibid.
31
Ibid.
32
Ibid.
33
Martnez was fluent in both Spanish and English.
34
Mary Martnez Garza and Yvonne (Kiki) Martnez Cisneros, interview with the author,
January 29, 1998, in Fort Worth.
35
A brochure written October 1, 1970, by Margaret W. Harrison, entitled The Story of
Oakwood Cemetery, provided by Yvonne (Kiki) Martnez Cisneros, describes the markers of
some of the more distinguished occupants. Among the descriptions was the one of Pete
Martnezs grave, which included passages like: No visitor to the cemetery will wish to miss
the Martnez monument, which is also near the Calvary section. This is a low, but rather wide,
headstone of gray granite. There is a bronze plaque, [which] slips aside and reveals a picture of
the deceased, Pete Martnez, a distinguished looking man, having the air of a Spanish grandee
or nobleman . . . . Beneath the childrens names are these beautiful words from their father:
`Farewell my wife and children dear, I am not dead but sleeping here, and after me no sorrow
take But love each other for my sake.
36
The building currently housing Los Vaqueros was built in 1915 originally to be a packinghouse.
Construction ceased when it became evident that the railroad did not intend to create a spur
to service this area. Known as the D. Hart Building, it has been used over the years by both
Armour and Swift as a cold-storage facility, as a feed store, and as a warehouse. In more recent
years it was bought by a Mr. Braziel, who sold used restaurant equipment. A Mr. Weaver
bought the Hart Building from Braziel and sold it to John and Kiki Cisneros. It has sentimen-
tal value to them since Pete Martnez used to frequent this building when he was still working.
37
Garza and Cisneros interview, January 29, 1998.
38
Fort Worth Public Library, Genealogy and Local History archives. Wesley Community House
Records, Box 1, Folder 1, Katherine Ashburn, History of the Fort Worth Wesley House,
circa 1934. 14.
39
Mary Lou Lpez, interview with the author, July 27, 1995, Fort Worth.
40
Records, Box 1, Folder 1, 1937 Report of Jennie C. CongletonHead Resident. 1.
41
Dr. Ral Lpez Guerra, Jr., interview with the author, July 29, 1994, in Corpus Christi, Texas.
42
The Nest Ranch
43
Membrillo is a tart, gritty fruit, resembling an apple, found in Mexico and used to make a jelly-
like candy with a unique flavor.
44
Basilisa Lpez Guerra, interview with the author, August 14, 1995, in Corpus Christi. (N.B.,
Although Basilisa lives in Guadalajara, Jalisco, she happened to be visiting one of her daugh-
ters in Corpus Christi and consented to an interview.)
45
Rals surviving siblings are Alfredo, Francisco, Juan, Clara, Romualda, Basilisa, Genoveva,
and Clementina.
46
Basilisa Lpez Guerra interview, August 14, 1995.
47
Elementary school and high school
48
Ral Lpez Guerra, Jr., interview, July 29, 1994.
49
Ibid.
50
Richard A. Garca, Rise of the Mexican American Middle Class: San Antonio, 1929-1941 (College
Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1991), 35.
51
52
Aurelias father, Antonio Avila Delgado, was a second-generation medical doctor who also
owned a pharmacy, an ice-making plant, a soft-drink bottling operation, as well as a cotton
plantation in Durango, close to the border near Zacatecas. He received his degree from the
medical school in Guadalajara in 1853.
53
Only ten of the fourteen Avila children survived.
54
Originally from Monterrey, Nuevo Len, Aurelia Vrgas Trevio was a selfless, hard-working,
and family-oriented woman.
55
56
A zarzuela is a type of operetta that first appeared in nineteenth-century Spain.
57
58
Ostos married Aurelias sister Adela (La China).
59
60
Ibid.
61
Ibid.
62
Ibid.
63
Ibid.
64
65
In addition to Hispanics, other North Side immigrants came from Eastern EuropeGreece,
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania.
66
67
68
69
70
Ibid.
71
His son fondly recalled that mi pap era Mexicano hasta las cachas (literally, my father was a
Mexican up to his cheeks.) A better translation would be my father was Mexican through
and through.
72
Dr. Ral Lpez Guerra, Jr. recalled that his father frequently stated that estoy ms agusto ac,
meaning that he felt much more comfortable in his native Mexico than in the U.S.
73
Notes 219
74
75
More difficult to translate, papas a huevo essentially means potatoes once again, one has no
choice.
76
Benito Soto Mercado, interview with the author, March 30, 1994, in Fort Worth.
77
Minnie Gutirrez told the story of a local horse that was gashed by a bulls horns. The result-
ing wound turned ugly and began to attract flies. The owner immediately brought his bottle of
volcanic oil and applied it to the horses woundthe wound healed quickly and the horse
recovered. The ingredients in volcanic oil include chlorothymol, pure gum turpentine, flaxseed
oil, camphor oil, sassafrassy, and pine oil.
78
Gutirrez interview, June 27, 1994.
79
Pure lard with mint leaves applied to the temples alleviated headaches.
80
Gutirrez interview, June 27, 1994.
81
Romn and Helen Soto Mercado, interview with the author, June 15, 1994, in Fort Worth.
82
Marysol Garza, interview with the author, June 24, 1994, in Fort Worth.
83
Ibid.
84
Ibid.
85
Ibid.
86
Ibid.
87
Ibid.
88
Ibid.
89
Ibid.
90
Ibid.
91
Ibid.
CHAPTER FIVE
1 Arnoldo De Len. Mexican Americans in Texas: A Brief History (Arlington Heights, Ill: Harlan
Davidson, Inc., 1993), 84.
2 All Saints Catholic Church, Our Celebration: All Saints Catholic Church, Fort Worth, Texas (South
Hackensack, NJ: Custombook, Inc., 1977), 20.
3 North Houston was then known as Lake Avenue. The original church faced east on North
Houston Avenue (1903-1952). A new brick-veneer structure facing Northwest 20th Street
(same corner) was dedicated in December of 1952.
4 Our Celebration, 21.
5 The location of the first San Jos mission (1909-1919) remains a mystery. The first baptism at
the mission was of Atanasio Guerra, son of Leandro Guerra and Delfina Contreras on April
24, 1909; the first marriage celebrated was between Silverio Estrada and Mara del Socorro
Soza on April 24, 1909. Some of the missions early pastors were the Reverend C. Gagliardoni,
O.F.M. (1909-1913); the Reverend Y. Pohlen, O.F.M. (1913-1914); the Reverend F. Marti,
C.M. (1914- 1916); and the Reverend R. Atanes, C.M. (ca. 1916- 1919).
6 Fort Worth, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. 1911, Vol. 2
7 A native of Catalonia, in northeastern Spain, Antonio Mara Claret founded the Claretian order
on July 16, 1849. Formally named the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, the order became more familiarly known as the Claretians. The initials that followed the
printed name of any Claretian priest identified him with his orderC.M.F., Cordis Mariae Filius
(Latin for Son of the Heart of Mary). Several North Side residents joked that C.M.F. meant
cme ms frijoles (eats more beans). The Claretians quickly branched out into the foreign mis-
sion fields of Europe, Africa, and Latin America before arriving in the United States at the
turn of the twentieth century. Claretian missionaries came to the attention of church officials
in South Texas and in Southern California: In 1902 Bishop A. Forest invited them to stay at
San Antonios San Fernando Cathedral; in 1906 at St. John the Evangelist Church in San
Marcos; in 1908 they were entrusted with administering the historic San Gabriel Mission just
east of Los Angeles; and in 1910 they were placed in charge of Los Angeles preeminent
Catholic church, Nuestra Seora la Reina de los Angeles de la Porciuncula. In addition, Claretian
missionaries arrived in China in 1933, the Philippines in 1947, Japan in 1951, and India in the
1960s.
8 Our Celebration, 8-9.
9 Ibid., 6-7.
10 San Joss Claretian pastors included Eugenio Herrn (1926-1930); Sebastin Ripero (1930-
1932); Bonifacio Mayer (1932-1937); Ignacio de Asumendi (1937-1939); Jaime Tort (1939);
Miguel Castilln (1939-1940); Bonifacio Mayer (1941-1942); Antimo Nebreda (1942-1945);
Celestino de la Iglesia (1945-1948); Aloysius Dot (1948-1954); and Richard Trevio (1954-1955).
In 1955 San Jos ceased to exist, merging with its former mother church, All Saints.
12 Michael and Hope Ayala, interview with the author, February 16, 1998, in Fort Worth.
13 Ibid.
15 A promesa meant making a promise to visit a holy site if the Virgen would comply with a special
request.
16 Ibid.
17 Jim Jones, Nun of the Barrios: After 60 years, Sister Lawrencia still loves her students, Fort
Worth Star Telegram, October 14, 1984.
18
Ayala interview, February 16, 1998.
19
No stranger to Mexicanos, Neville Penrose was involved in the oil business in Mexico.
20
Helen Flores Mercado, interview with the author, June 15, 1994, in Fort Worth.
21
As a point of comparison with salaries in other industries, according to Benito Soto Mercado
the packinghouses paid the bestweekly wages in the late 1930s were between $7.50 and
$15.00, depending on the department. In 1947 a person who washed dishes received 25 per
hour ($10.00 per week based on 40 hours); in 1955 a person doing upholstery work was paid
75 an hour ($30.00 per week based on 40 hours).
22
St. Ignatius was next door to St. Patricks Cathedral. St. Marys was at Magnolia Avenue and
St. Louis Street. St. Alice is now Holy Family Catholic School, 6146 Pershing Street.
23 Fort Worth Public Library, Genealogy and Local History archives. Wesley Community House
Records, Box 2, Folder 4, Our Golden Jubilee: Womens Missionary Society, 1880-1928. 53.
24 A social movement and series of programs advocated by Christians from the 1870s to 1940s to
apply principles of the Gospel to industrialized societybetter pay and working conditions, an
equitable distribution of wealth, and eradication of child labor, among other issues. The New
Deal incorporated some of the Social Gospel Movements programs.
Records, Box 2, Folder 3, Document beginning For more than a quarter century . . . . 2.
Records, Box 1, Folder 1, Katherine Ashburn, History of the Fort Worth Wesley House, circa 1934.
2.
27 Our Golden Jubilee, 53-54. Eugenia Smith remained head resident until 1922. Subsequent head
residents were Connie Fagan, Rena Murphy, Sue Mitchell (1928), Katherine Arnold (1934-37),
Jennie Congleton (1937-early 1940s), Iva Conner (1951), and Ruth Fuessler (1956-57).
28 Ibid., 1.
29 Ashburn, 2.
30 Ibid.
Records, Box 2, Folder 3, Document beginning The Wesley House was begun . . . . [no
page cited]
32 Ashburn, 3. This corner refers to the southeast corner of Northwest 22nd and North
Commerce streets, across NW 22nd Street from the present-day site of Joe T. Garcas
Notes 221
Restaurant. The building still stands but was sold to the Pan American Golf Association in the
1960s.
Records, Box 2, Folder 3, Document beginning The used clothing which is sent in . . . .
[no page cited]
Records, Box 2, Folder 1, Wesley Community House, 1934. 2.
35 Ibid., 2.
36 Ibid., 4.
37 Ibid., 2, 9.
38 Ibid., 12-13.
39 Ibid., 12.
40 Ibid., 2.
41 Ibid., 8-9.
42
Ashburn, 11.
43
Ibid., 13.
44
Records, Box 2, Folder 1, Report of Katie HerndonClub Director. [no page cited]
45
The used clothing which is sent in . . . . [no page cited]
46 Wesley Community House, 2.
Records, Box 1, Folder 1, Annual Report: January 1, 1933December 31, 1933. 1-2.
48 Ashburn, 16-17.
Records, Box 2, Folder 1, Narrative 1955-1956. 2,
Records, Box 2, Folder 1, Annual Narrative for 1959-1960. 1-2.
Records, Box 2, Folder 1, Annual Narrative for 1953-1954. 2. (These particular comments
came from Mara Garca, a staff member and wife of the pastor.)
52 Mary Lou Lpez, interview with the author, July 27, 1995, in Fort Worth.
Records, Box 2, Folder 1, 1937 Report of Jennie C. CongletonHead Resident. 1.
54 Wesley Community House, 1.
55 Ibid.
56 Ashburn, 7-8.
Records, Box 2, Folder 1, Annual Report, July 1953.
58 Ibid., 11-12.
Records, Box 1, Folder 1, author unknown, Ca. 1941 report on the Wesley Community
House. 1.
60
Ashburn, 8, 11.
61
Records, Box 1, Folder 4, Wesley House Activities Not Curtailed in Summer [page not
cited].
Records, Box 2, Folder 3, Document beginning . . . faith in Jesus Christ . . . . [page not
cited]
63 Elisa Castillo Njera, interview with the author, July 20, 1995 in Fort Worth.
64 William Alexander Walls, a Presbyterian minister as well, named his son after himself. The
Spanish equivalent for William is Guillermo.
65 Njera interview, July 20, 1995.
66 Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Mexicana. Typewritten manuscript, A Rsum of the Spring

Reunion of Texas-Mexican Presbytery, April 23-27, 1930. 2.
67 Aside from Pastor Walls, charter members included Enrique R. Ramrez, Mara V. de Ramrez,
Luis R. Navarro, Josefa Campos, Julia Pantoja (Sammy Pantojas grandmother), Jos Pantoja,
Manuela S. Pantoja, Raquel Walls (pastors wife), Juan Fras (elder), Francisco Vega (deacon),
Ramona de Vega, Teofila Vega, Beatriz Vega, German Vega, Leonardo Vega, Librado Vega,
Benito Vega, Josas Balderas (elder and father of Emma B. Gaitn and Herlinda B. Garca),
Longina de Gonzalez, Jos Garca, Tomasita de Garca, and Victor A. Cano.
68 A Rsum of the Spring Reunion, 2.
69 Ibid., 2.
70 Ibid.
71 Elisa Castillo Martnez, interview with the author, July 27, 1995, in Fort Worth.
72 Mexican Presbyterian Center. Printed document, Dcimo Aniversario del Centro
Presbiteriano Mexicano, ca. 1936. 2.
74 Ibid.
75 Martnez interview, July 27, 1995.
76 Ibid.
77 In the late 1930s Eleanor Roosevelt often visited Fort Worth because her son, Elliot, and his
wife, Ruth (ne Googins), lived at a ranch in Benbrook.
78 Martnez interview, July 27, 1995.
79 Although the facility still serves the same neighborhood at 960 West Bluff Street, the name
was changed to Gethsemane Presbyterian Church.
81 Ibid.
83 Ibid., 13-14.
84 Ibid.
85 Dominga (Minnie) Martnez Gutirrez, interview with the author, June 27, 1994, in Fort
Worth.
86 Cecilia Reyes, interview with the author, June 14, 1994, in Fort Worth.
87 Ibid.
88 Robert Pulido, Sr., interview with the author, February 18, 1998, in Fort Worth.
89 Our Celebration, 14-15.
90 Ibid.
91 By the early 1950s there were approximately seven hundred Mexicanos living in the area of La
Loma. Compare this figure with the 1930s when, according to former resident Madeliene
Rangel Gutirrez, there were about five to seven families living there.
93 Ibid.
94 The bishop saved the church money by using the same architectural plans a church in Dallas.
95 Our Celebration, 15, 17.
96 Bishop Timon had been the Prefect-Apostolic of the Republic of Texas. Assisting Timon in
the missionary work in the Republic was Father Odin, who became the first Roman Catholic
bishop of Texas. Bishop Dubuis succeeded Bishop Odin, as the second Roman Catholic bish-
op of Texas.
97 Sister Margaret Miller, SSMN, interview with the author, April 24, 1998, in Fort Worth.
98 Ibid.
99 Ibid.
Notes 223
100 At the time, the campus was at the end of the electric rail line.
101 Located by St. Marys parish, Laneri was named after a local family.
102 Miller interview, April 24, 1998.
CHAPTER SIX
1 Michael and Hope Ayala, interview with the author, January 26, 1998, in Fort Worth.
2 Ibid.
3 Salvador C., Jr., and Mara S. Gonzalez, interview with the author, March 26, 1994, in Fort
Worth.
4 Michael and Hope Ayala, interview with the author, March 28, 1994, in Fort Worth.
5 Ibid.
7 Ayala interview, March 28, 1994. There were no judges in this contest. Beginning one month
before the festival a group of young ladies competed for the honor of being crowned queen by
raising funds that benefited San Jos Church. Each penny raised counted as one vote and the
candidate with the most votes won.
8 Ayala interview, March 28, 1994.
9 Rincn Potico, El eco latino, May 1948, 2
10 Translation by Peggy W. Watson, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish, Department of
Spanish and Latin American Studies, TCU.
11
Ayala interview, January 26, 1998. Adults 25, children 15, and students of San Jos 10
12
Ayala interview, January 26, 1998.
13
Cecilia Reyes, interview with the author, June 14, 1994, in Fort Worth.
14
A quinceaera is an event publicly celebrating a young ladys fifteenth birthday.
15
Since there were no Spanish-language newspapers in Fort Worth until the late 1940s and early
1950s, Mexicanos relied on San Antonios La prensa, which could be purchased at some
neighborhood stores.
16
17
Ibid.
18
Esperanza Manrquez, telephone interview with the author, July 19, 2001, in Fort Worth.
Aurelio Manrquez was born on October 20, 1886. Monica Acuna was born on May 4, 1894
in Monterrey, Nuevo Len, Mexico.
19
Manrquez interview, July 19, 2001. Alicia died at the age of eight or nine in 1928 in Strawn,
Texas. As of July 19, 2001, Esperanza lived in Fort Worth. Azalia Manrquez Duran passed
away in 1971. As of July 19, 2001, Arturo lived in Fort Worth. He retired after working many
years with Swift & Company.
20 Translation by Peggy W. Watson, Ph.D.
21
Manrquez telephone interview, July 19, 2001.
22
Aurelio Manrquez died in Fort Worth on February 12, 1955. He had abandoned his family
in the early 1930s and returned to Mexico. Sudden illness in 1952 brought him back to Fort
Worth where his daughters could take care of him. Monica Acua Manrquez died on June 1,
1943.
23
Records, Box 1, Folder 1, Katherine Ashburn, History of the Fort Worth Wesley House,
circa 1934. 10.
24
Ibid., 13.
25
Ciquio and Josie Vsquez, interview with the author, July 13, 1995, in Fort Worth. The eleven
children were Concha (Gmez), deceased; Vicenta (Elizondo); Trinidad (Rodrguez); Tiburcio;
Magdaleno; Anselma (Puente); Ciquio; Antonio; Pablo; Pasqual; and Ernesto.
26
Vsquez interview, July 13, 1995.
27
Ibid.
28
Ibid.
29 Ibid.
30
The seven children were Gilberto, Angelica (Garza), Roberto, Julian, Alfredo, Guadalupe
(Lupe,) who lives in Fort Worth and is retired from the navy, and Eulogia (Abrego).
31
To combat the effects of the Great Depression, young men hired by the CCC were given lodg-
ing, clothing, food, and paid $30 per month. They could keep eight dollars, but the balance
had to be sent back to support their families.
32
Herlinda Balderas Garca, interview with the author, July 19, 1995, in Fort Worth.
33
Ibid.
34
The March of Dimes gained widespread support during this era due in part to President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who himself was a victim of poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis).
35
Garca interview, July 19, 1995.
36
V-mail (Victory mail) was a system of pre-printed correspondence forms whose contents
were transferred to microfilm to save shipping space during the war. One wrote a letter in the
limited space of the v-mail form and sent it to the post office where it was microfilmed and
shipped in a mail sack. The system reduced the size of mail loads considerablyto carry
150,000 one-page letters required 37 mailbags; with v-mail, it required only one sack to ship
the same number. At the sites where the microfilm was developed, the letters were reproduced
at about a quarter of the size of the original and delivered to the addressee. The mail was
sometimes weeks or even months old and for security reasons was often censored. V-Mail.
Learn More about It. National Postal Museum. http://www.si.edu/postal/learnmore/vmail.html
(December 4, 2002).
37
Garca interview, July 19, 1995. He had originally proposed before reporting for basic training,
but Herlinda was not quite ready.
38
Ibid.
39
Ibid.
40
Ibid.
41
A special unit of mountain climbers had already scaled the cliffs and had dropped ropes down
to the rest of the Rangers.
42
Leonard Menchaca, interview with the author, February 19, 1998, in Fort Worth.
43
44
Sam Garca, interview with the author, June 30, 1998, in Fort Worth. Lucios father, Jorge,
died in Quiroga, while his mother, Valeria (born in 1864) died in 1932 and was buried in
Pittsburg, Oklahoma.
45 Brunos wife was Catarina; they had one daughter, Aletha, who was four years older than Sam.
Bruno played the trumpet; Jesse Garca played the fiddle and the bass. Bruno was buried in
Pittsburg; Jesse died in the late 1930s and was also buried in Pittsburg. Frank Garca returned
to Mexico in the early 1930s.
46
Garca interview, June 30, 1998. Lucio had to spend at least sixteen hours a day resting in bed.
47
Ibid.
48
Ibid.
49
Garca interview, June 30, 1998.
50
Ibid.
51
Because there were so few Mexicanos in Pittsburg and at the sanitarium, he soon forgot how
to speak Spanish.
52
53
Ibid.
54
Ibid.
55
Born on April 4, 1930, Mara married Sam in 1966; she passed away December 11, 1996.
56
Notes 225
57
Jacinta R. Jara, interview with the author, August 15, 1994, in Fort Worth. Alfonso and Mara
Jara had eight children: Vicente, Manuel, Jos, Adela, Roberto, Gonzalo (the first born in Fort
Worth), Alfonso, and Juan (Johnny).
58
Ibid.
59
The Rochas had nine children: Ins, Jacinta, Arnulfo, Jr., Elena (Helen), Guadalupe
(Lupe), Oscar, Olga, Lidia, and Ramn.
60
With the exception of Jacinta and Helen, the rest of the family settled in either San Jos or San
Francisco.
61
Jara interview, August 15, 1994.
62
Ibid.
63
Ibid.
64
Ibid.
65
Ibid.
66
Ibid.
CHAPTER SEVEN
1
Aurora Vega Mata Burciaga, interview with the author, July 12, 1994, in Fort Worth.
2
Ibid.
3
Sara passed away in 1967. Joe Vega worked as a pharmacist and is now retired. Aurora Vega
Mata married Ramn (Raymond) Medelln Burciaga on July 31, 1947.
4
Burciaga interview, July 12, 1994.
5
This same radio station (KFJZ) has had Spanish-speaking programming for the last ten years.
6
7
Some of Matas music students included Margaret Dolores Hernndez, Cecilia and Betty
Reyes, and Aurora Vega Mata.
8
9 Johnny Ayala, interview with the author, August 9, 1994, in Fort Worth. Hctor and Raymond
Cortez were brothers.
10
Johnny Ayala interview, August 9, 1994.
11 Panchillo Ramrez and Felipe Ramrez were the brother and uncle of Augustn Ramrez of
Austin, a well-known Tejano musician. A talented and versatile songwriter, Santos Aguilar also
played saxophone for The Starlighters. His father, Tule Aguilar, taught music, and his broth-
er, Ralph Aguilar, played drums for Ernest Vzquez y el conjunto flamingo. Santos Aguilars wife is
first cousin of Paulino Bernal (Kingsville, Texas), widely acclaimed to be the greatest Mexicano
accordion player of all time.
12 El zarape Records was owned and managed by Johnny Gonzalez of Dallas. According to Joe
Lerma it was Gonzalez, the starmaker, who managed the career of Little Joe, propelling him
and his band into the limelight. Gonzalez also managed other Tejano bands throughout the
state, including that of Shorty (Guadalupe Ortiz) and the Corvettes, based in Austin.
13
Johnny Ayala interview, August 9, 1994.
14
Joe Lerma, interview with the author, August 9, 1994, in Fort Worth.
15 Ernest Vzquez y el conjunto flamingo was formed in 1960 and consisted of the following musi-
cians: Raymond Muoz (accordion); Ernest Vzquez (bajosexto); Joe Lerma (lead vocals); Ralph
Aguilar, brother of Santos (drums); and Andrew Muoz, Raymonds brother (bass).
16
Lerma interview, August 9, 1994.
17
Ibid.
18 Pauline Willis Estrada, interview with the author, July 20, 1994, in Fort Worth. Ernest and
Eulalia Willis had five children: Dora, Paulina, Ernest, Jr. (deceased), Emily, and Dorothy.
19
Estrada interview, July 20, 1994.
20 Willis worked hard, adapted well to various work environments, and was a good provider. In
Marlin he owned a small grocery store; in Waco he was a chef at a hotel. In Knox City he was
a ranch foreman, and in Fort Worth he worked for Texas Steel Company.
21
22
Ibid.
23 Knox City and the neighboring town of OBrien are located about seventy miles north of
Abilene. The Willis family moved there from Waco in 1955 and lived there for four years,
finally moving to Fort Worth in 1959.
24
25
Bolillo literally means a roll of white bread (such as a French roll). Mexicanos have long used
the word as a nickname for white Anglos.
26
27
Ibid. She couldnt remember the name of the hymn.
28 It wasnt until the 1970s that the band became known as Little Joe y la familia. Little Joes full
name is Jos Mara De Len Hernndez.
29
Headquartered in Round Rock, near Austin, Alfonso Ramos and his band were important fig-
ures in the genesis of the Tejano musical style.
30
31
A picture of Little Joe and his band, taken at Calderons Ballroom in Phoenix, Arizona, is
featured on the On Tour album cover.
32
Sunny Ozuna and his band are headquartered in San Antonio. They have been playing since
the early 1960s and continue to perform. They played at the 1994 cinco de mayo fiesta held at
Marine Park on the North Side.
33 Little Joes band didnt add an accordion until much later, in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
34
Paula typically made at least $75 per night.
35
36 Johnny Gonzalez married Irene de la Garza, Luthers sister. He was Little Joes best friend
and, in the 1960s, his agent.
37
Paula sang mostly American songs in a lounge at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas.
38
39
Stamford is about sixteen miles north of Anson. Anson is approximately twenty-one miles
northwest of Abilene.
40
Sam Estrada, interview with the author, July 20, 1994, in Fort Worth.
41
Ibid.
42
Ramn Hernndez, who, at last report, lives in San Antonio, has amassed thousands of files
on latino stars in the entertainment businessmusic, radio, television, and movies. His ambi-
tion is to establish a latino hall of fame for Hispanic stars in all fields of entertainment.
Hernndez also possesses one of the largest collections of classic long-playing, thirty-three-
rpm records featuring a staggering variety of latino bands.
43
Two of the more famous musicians associated with Los relmpagos del Norte were Cornelio
Reyna (died January 1997) and Ramn Ayala.
44
45
Fernando Landeros, Sr., interview with the author, July 19, 1994, in Fort Worth. Fernando
Landeros, Sr., has a son by his first marriage named Fernando, II, and a son by his second
marriage named Fernando, III.
46
Landeros interview, July 19, 1994.
47
Ibid.
48
The genesis of the cumbia can be traced to the popular music of Colombia in South America.
It is a style that blends African rhythms with indigenous instruments.
Notes 227
49
50
Ibid.
51 Gabriel Dazs conjunto, Los caporales (The Ranch Foremen) consisted of an electric bass guitar,
a bajosexto, la batera (drums), and his accordion. Gabriels son eventually had his own conjunto,
known as Steve Diz y sensacin.
52
53
Ibid.
54
Ibid.
55
Ibid.
56
Ibid.
57 Ibid.
58
Leonard Menchaca, interview with the author, February 19, 1998, in Fort Worth. Juan presented
the canary as a gift to his mother. Unfortunately, she did not get to appreciate the gift for
long: Much to Mrs. Menchacas chagrin her cat ate the canary and, for a time, that cat lived in
fear of its life.
59
60
When San Jos was merged into All Saints Catholic Church, the painting was given to Juans
brother, Leonard.
61
62
Pilar Bouzas, interview with the author, June 27, 1994, in North Hollywood, California.
63 Ibid.
64
Ibid.
65
Ibid.
66
Ibid.
CHAPTER EIGHT
1
Fernando Landeros, Sr., interview with the author, July 19, 1994, in Fort Worth.
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
5
Built to control flooding of the Rio Grande and for recreation, Amistad Dam is located a few
miles north of Del Rio.
6
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid.
12
Translation: he needed something more, he wanted to look for something more.
13
14
Ibid.
15
Landeros used this term to apply to a longtime resident of the United States as opposed to
one who has arrived in more recent times.
16
17
Ibid.
18
Ibid. Landeros said that detectives came to his house or workplace once a week to harass him;
occasionally they would put him in jail overnight.
19 Landeros interview, July 19, 1994.
20
Ibid.
21
Ibid.
22
J. Pete Zepeda, interview with the author, March 3, 1998, in Fort Worth. Already a widow,
Martina Manchaca had been married to a Frenchman named Carrier. They had six children by
the time Carrier died. At least half of these children died in the influenza pandemic of 1918.
23
Irineo and Martina had five children: Lucy Gonzalez, Pete, John, and Lydia Vzquez. The
familys second child (between Lucy and Pete) died of influenza in infancy in 1918. Their first
home in Fort Worth at 2204 North Commerce Street does not exist anymore. It is the present
site of the outdoor patio and swimming pool area at Joe T. Garcas North Side restaurant.
24
J. Pete Zepeda, interview with the author, March 8, 1994, in Fort Worth..
25
Ibid.
26
Ibid. Agapito Hernndez was born in Roma, Texas, in 1873. He came to Fort Worth to live on
the 3600 block of Stuart Drive and worked for Texas Steel Company. Petes father passed
away on February 29, 1960. Dominga Huerta Hernndez was born in 1884 in a village near
Morelia, Michoacn. She passed away on August 20, 1938.
27 Pete and Juanita Zepeda raised five children. Ronald Lee graduated from Texas Wesleyan
University with an accounting degree. Gilbert Ray graduated from TWU with a microbiology
degree with hopes of going to medical school. He applied to fifteen schools at a time when few
Mexican Americans were accepted. David George graduated from TWU with a music degree
and became an opera singer in Germany. Their adopted children, Ramn (Raymond) and
Connie both attended TWU.
28
Zepeda interview, March 3, 1998.
29
The structure of the United Methodist Church is divided into the following levels in ascend-
ing order: local, district, conference, jurisdictional, and general conference. The Rio Grande
Conference of the Methodist Church is made up of about 140 churches in Texas and New
Mexico.
30
Zepeda interview, March 3, 1998.
31
Louis J. Zapata, interview with the author, February 26, 1998, in Fort Worth. Although the
name on the birth certificate is Jos Luis Zapata, he has always gone by Louis J. Zapata.
32
Zapata interview, February 26, 1998.
33
St. Ignatius School was located downtown next to St. Patricks Cathedral.
34
35
Ibid.
36
Ibid.
37
Under the at-large system, a candidate for city council received the votes of the entire elec-
torate, regardless where he or she lived in the city. A single-member district system, on the
other hand, allowed a person to receive the votes of the particular geographically defined dis-
trict that the cnadidate hopes to represent.
38
District Two includes Oakhurst and Riverside as well as the North Side, Diamond Hill, and
Washington Heights sections of North Fort Worth.
39
Zapata interview, February 26, 1998. At the end of the 1977 race for District Two, Zapata was
saddled with a campaign debt of $21,000. It took two years for him to pay off the entire debt
by raffling off TVs, radios, and other tangible goods. Zapata has observed that most
Mexicanos do not appreciate the political process and the power in unity.
40
41
Ibid.
42
This mansion on Hemphill is presently the law office of James Stanley.
43
Presently it is Alonzo Funeral Home.
44
Martina Franco Mendoza, interview with the author, July 19, 1995, in Fort Worth. Apolonio
and Petra Mendoza had thirteen children altogether: Tereso (Ted); Rufino, Sr., deceased;
Rodolfo (Rudy); Guadalupe (Lupe) Esparza; Lydia Bonilla; Alicia Pedroza; Consuelo
Rodrguez; Apolonio Robert Mendoza; and Luis Gilberto. Three of their children passed away.
Notes 229
Rufino Mendoza, Sr., was a toddler when the family returned to Mexico; they stayed about
five years.
45
Jennings Avenue seemed to be a dividing line; a small Mexican barrio was located to the west
of Jennings Ave. (around Vickery and Jarvis streets) while African Americans populated the
neighborhoods to the east of Jennings.
46
Rufino Mendoza, Jr., interview with the author, July 18, 1995, in Fort Worth. Other early mail
carriers included Mike Ayala and Salvador Gonzalez, Jr. Mendoza worked for the post office
for thirty-one years until his retirement in 1982 at the age of fifty-five.
47
Mendoza interview, July 19, 1995. Reynaldo and Victoria Ozuna Franco had twelve children:
Beatriz, who married Mario Saenz; Lilia, who married Daniel Flores; Martina married Rufino
Mendoza, Sr.; Servando; Cristina F. Garca; Rebecca F. Espinoza; Ramon; Dolores F.
Eisenstar; Daniel; Roberto (Bobby); Gloria Franco; and Raquel F. Arredondo, Fort Worth.
48
Mendoza interview, July 18, 1995. Mendoza led by example and instilled pride and self-esteem
in his children: Rufino, Jr., is superintendent of Code Enforcement for the City of Fort Worth;
George is principal at Kirkpatrick Middle School; David works for the railroad; Rebecca teach-
es at Riverside Middle School; Ralph is Deputy Chief of Police; Eddy is a sergeant in the police
department; Ricardo works for the U.S. Post Office; Melissa is a schoolteacher and housewife;
and Melinda is a housewife.
49
Presently, Rufinos second son, Jorge (George) Mendoza, lives at this residence.
50
Mendoza interview, July 18, 1995.
51
In 1971, only two percent of FWISD teachers were Hispanic.
52
Mendoza interview, July 18, 1995.
53
Ibid.
54
Carlos Puente, interview with the author, August 9, 1994, in Fort Worth.
55
Ibid
56
A government program, CETA stands for Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.
57
Puente interview, August 9, 1994.
58 This institution is part of the University of North Texas system.
59
MCAT is the entrance exam for medical school and is one of the determining factors used for
admission.
60
61 Among the major reasons were party infighting and Muizs arrest for the alleged possession
of a controlled substance.
62 This seat represents the Diamond Hill and North Side areas.
63
APPENDICES
Records, Box 2, Folder 3, Document beginning with Although Paulita Gutierrez . . . .
2 Marysol Garza, interview with the author, June 23, 1994, in Fort Worth.
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Notes 233
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http://members.fortunecity.com/tokenguy/tokentales/page39.htm. (December 17, 2002).
Baxman, Cindy. History of the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920. Border Revolution. May 15,
1998. http://history.acusd.edu/gen/projects/border/page03.html. (October 2, 2002).
Patch, Robert. Porfirio Daz. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.
http://go.grolier.com:80/Grolier/Multimedia Encyclopedia. (Oct. 2, 2002).
Ross, Stanley. Porfirio Daz (1830-1915). Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. http://
go.grolier.com/Encyclopedia Americana (Oct. 2, 2002).
Schmelzer, Janet. Fort Worth, Texas. The Handbook of Texas Online. The Texas State
Historical Association, 1997-2002.
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/FF/hdf1.html. (October 11, 2002).
UNPUBLISHED MATERIALS
Arlington, Texas. University of Texas at Arlington. Library Special Collection 335. George W.
Armstrong Papers.
PUBLIC RECORDS
Fort Worth City Directories, 1877-1950
Fort Worth Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration. Fort Worth Public
Library.
Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce: 1993-1994 Business Directory and Referral Guide. Fort
Worth: Walker Publications, Inc., 1993.
U. S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. Ninth Census of the United States, 1870.
. Bureau of the Census. Tenth Census of the United States, 1880.
. Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900.
INTERVIEWS
Angiano, Ramn. Interview with author, Fort Worth, Texas, March 30, 1994.
Ayala, Johnny. Interview with author, Fort Worth, August 9, 1994.
Ayala, Louis. Interview with author, Fort Worth, September 9, 1994.
Ayala, Michael and Hope Padilla Ayala. Interviews with author, Fort Worth, March 25, 1994,
January 26, 1998, and February 16, 1998.
Bouzas, Pilar. Interview with author, North Hollywood, CA, June 27, 1994.
Burciaga, Aurora Vega Mata. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 12, 1994.
Cagigal, Frank and Maggie Cagigal. Interview with author, Fort Worth, March 30, 1994.
Cancino, Fannie. Interview with author, Fort Worth, March 20, 1998.
Cardona, Benito, III. Interview with author, Fort Worth, February 4, 1998.
Castillo, Alfredo (Freddie). Interview with author, Fort Worth, June 25, 1994.
Christian, Mary Garca. Interview with author, Fort Worth, March 24, 1994.
Cisneros, Yvonne (Kiki) Martnez. Interview with author, Fort Worth, January 29, 1998.
Domnguez, Jos Jess and Minerva Domnguez. Interview with author, North Richland Hills,
Texas, March 26, 1994.
Esparza, Gregorio, Jr. Interview with author, Fort Worth, March 17, 1994.
Estrada, Pauline Willis. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 20, 1994.
Estrada, Sam. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 20, 1994.
Gaitn, Emma Balderas. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 12, 1995.
Gallegos, Alejandro, Sr. Interview with author, Fort Worth, February 18, 1994.
Gallegos, Sara Garza Barajas. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 2, 1998.
Garca, Herlinda Balderas. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 19, 1995.
Garca, Sam, Interview with author, Fort Worth, June 30, 1998.
Garza, Mary Martnez. Interview with author, Fort Worth, January 29, 1998.
Garza, Marysol. Interview with author, Fort Worth, June 23, 1994.
Gonzalez, Salvador C. and Mara S. Gonzalez. Interview with author, Fort Worth, March 26, 1994.
Gutirrez, Amador G. and Madeliene R. Gutirrez. Interview with author, Fort Worth, March 25, 1994.
Gutirrez, Dominga (Minnie) Martnez. Interview with author, Fort Worth, June 27, 1994.
Hernndez, Margarita Burciaga. Interview with author, Fort Worth, June 21, 1994.
Hernndez, Ramn. Interview with author, Temple, Texas, September 2, 1994.
Holton, Joe. Interview with author, Fort Worth, March 7, 1994.
Jara, Jacinta. Interview with author, Fort Worth, August 15, 1994.
Kane, John J. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 12, 1994.
Lancarte, Hope Garca. Interview with author, Fort Worth, March 24, 1994.
Landeros, Fernando. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 19, 1994.
Lerma, Joe, Interview with author, Fort Worth, August 9, 1994.
Lpez Guerra, Basilisa. Interview with author, Corpus Christi, Texas, August 14, 1995.
Lpez Guerra, Dr. Ral, Jr. Interview with author, Corpus Christi, Texas, July 29, 1994.
Lpez, Mary Lou. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 27, 1995.
Manrquez, Esperanza. Telephone interview, July 19, 2001.
Martnez, Elisa Castillo. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 27, 1995.
Menchaca, Leonard. Interview with author, Fort Worth, February 19, 1998.
Mendoza, Martina Franco. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 19, 1995.
Mendoza, Rufino, Jr. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 18, 1995.
Miller, Sister Margaret , SSMN, interview with author, Fort Worth, April 24, 1998.
Njera, Elisa Castillo. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 20, 1995.
Narvaz, Consuelo Zapata. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 18, 1995.
Pantoja, Sammy. Interviews with author, Fort Worth, August 24, 1994 and September 14, 1994.
Puente, Carlos. Interview with author, Fort Worth, August 9, 1994.
Pulido, Robert, Sr. Interview with author, Fort Worth, February 18, 1998.
Reyes, Cecilia. Interview with author, Fort Worth, June 14, 1994.
Richardson, Ins Becera. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 11, 1994.
Rodrguez, Rudy. Interview with author, Fort Worth, February 2, 1998.
Romero, Amalia Martnez . Interview with author, Fort Worth, January 30, 1998.
Ruiz, Vito. Telephone interview with author, January 2003.
Seplveda, Jons. Interview with author, Grand Prairie, Texas, August 13, 1994.
Soto Mercado, Benito. Interview with author, Fort Worth, March 30, 1994.
Soto Mercado, Romn and Helen Soto Mercado. Interview with author, Fort Worth, June 15, 1994.
Trujillo, Jovita S. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 12, 1995.
Trujillo, Mario. Interview with author, Fort Worth, March 30, 1994.
Valenciano, Pauline. Interview with author, Fort Worth, April 4, 1994.
Vsquez, Ciquio and Josie Vsquez. Interview with author, Fort Worth, July 13, 1995.
Whitten, Lou Caro. Interview with author, Fort Worth, March 30, 1994.
Zapata, Louis J. Interview with author, Fort Worth, February 26, 1998.
Zepeda, J. Pete. Interviews with author, Fort Worth, March 8, 1994 and June 27, 1994.
Index
Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations. Material in the endnotes is not indexed.
A Ayala, Mara Ortiz, 26-27, 157 Briscoe, Dolph, 197

Activol, 205 Ayala, Michael, 70, 84-85, 101-102 Burciaga, Raymond, 61
Acua, Elisa, 57-58, 58 Aztecas baseball team, 141, 142 Burraja, 205
Acua, Monica, 135 businesses, Hispanic. See also
B individual businesses, 46-48
Acua, Simn, 57
bakeries, 30-34, 52-53
Addams, Jane, 105 C
Balderas, Herlinda, 144-145
Adelita, 80-81 Cabello, Consuelo, 52-53
Balderas, Josas, 119
adobe, making of, 32 Cagigal, Artemio Temo, 58, 142
Bandrs, Fr. Antonio, 104, 124
Aguilar, Concepcin Concha, Cagigal, Elisa Acua, 57-58, 58
118 Barajas, Librado, 61
Barajas, Mara Infante, 61, 62 Cagigal, Frank, 58, 142
Aguilar, Hijnio, 5, 6, 7-9, 38
Barajas, Sara, 61 Cagigal, Orencio Doce, 57-58, 58
Aguilera, Joe, 93
barbershops, 37-38, 59, 70 Cagigal, Orencio, Jr., 58
Aguirre, Jesse, 104
Barrera, Juanita, 81-82, 173, 175 Cagigal, Simon, 58
Aldrete, Cristobal, 145
barrios Camarena, Alvina, 133
Aldrete, Eduardo, 44
La Corte, 7, 8, 9-10, 29, 75-76, Los caminantes de Joe Hinojosa, 172
Alma 70, 160
81, 99, 117-123, 151, 186; La Campirano, M., 120
Altamisa, 205 Diecisiete, 7-9, 8, 14, 35, 72, 75; Campfire Girls, 111
Alvarado, Carlos, 175 La Fundicin, 15, 16, 80, 99,
123, 124, 130, 141, 143; La Cancino, Refugio, 28
Alvarez, Ramona, 70 Loma, 7, 14, 30, 125-127, 130, Cancino, Telsforo, 28-29
Ambicin, 172 191; El Papalote, 7, 10-11, 63, Candelria de Vrgas, Romana, 67
American G.I. Forum, 145-146 151; El TP, 14-15, 63, 125,
157, 191; La Yarda, 7, 14; Candoli, Carl, 193
Americanization, xv, 111-112, 120 North Side, 7, 11-15, 25-26, canela, 94
Andrews Theatre, 38 30-33, 35, 43, 47, 49, 52-53, Cant Garca, Ester, 143
Anise, 205 58-60, 68, 70-74, 81-82, 84-
87, 89-93, 99-117, 120-129, Cant Garca, Julian, 143
Arvalo, Epifanio, 161 134, 140-141, 151, 157, 160, Cardona, Benito, Jr., 30-34
Armstrong, George W., and sons, 171-174, 184-188,191-192, Cardona, Benito, Sr., 30-31, 31
44-45 197, 199-200; South Side, 7,
15-16, 21, 44, 81, 89, 123-127, Cardona, Bennie, III, 34
arnica, 94
141-143, 156-157, 181 Cardona de la Bastida, Bonifacio,
Arnold, Katherine, 117 30-31
baseball, 139, 140-143
Arnold, Major Ripley S., 1 Cardona, Gloria M., 25, 34
Basl, 205
aseite de volcnico, 94 Cardona, Moises, 33
Berber, Alice, 103
assimilation. See Americanization Caro, Eduardo, 77-78
Big Swing, xiv
Avila, Aurelia, 88-93, 92, 131 Caro, Felipa, 77-79
Birdville, 1-2
Avila Delgado, Antonio, 88 Caro, Juan Bautista, 77-79
Bolt Works, 44
Ayala, Angelo, 103 Caro, Lou, 77-80
Borbolla, Joe, 142
Ayala, Eutimio, 26-27, 157 Borbolla, Mike, 104 Caro, Mara Lou de Lourdes.
Ayala family, 82-85 See Caro, Lou
Borbolla, Rolando, 142
Ayala Grocery, 84 Caro, Modesta Cavzos, 77-79
Bouzas, Aurelio Earl, 10, 81-82,
Ayala, Hope Padilla, 27, 82-85, 173, 175 Caros Restaurant, 77-80
129, 130 Bouzas, Juanita Barrera, 81-82, Carrico, Thomas, 100
Ayala, Jesse, 104 173, 175 Cscara de Nogal, 205
Ayala, Juan Eutimio, 157-159 Bouzas, Pilar. See del Rey, Pilar casitas amarillas, 45
Ayala, Louis, 70 bracero (hired hand) program, 121 Casso, Alicia, 95
Castorena, Beatriz, 20-22 de la Garza, Vivian, 165 El TP, 14-15, 63, 125, 157, 191
Cavzos, Bernardina Hinojosa, 78 de la Rosa, Msgr. Emeterio, 127 employment services, 43-44, 121
Cavzos, Jacinto, 78 De Len, Arnoldo, 46 Enlow, Miss, 116-117
Cavzos, Modesta, 77-79 De Len, Contreras, 111 Escojido, Ramn, 131, 136
CCC. See Civilian Conservation deers eye, 206 Esparza, Gregorio, Sr., 34, 52-53
Corps (CCC) del Rey, Pilar, 81-82, 173-175, 174 Estafiate, 205
Cenizo, 205 Del Rio, Francisco, 88 Estrada, Antonio, 6, 36, 36, 37,
Cerda, Ramona, 94-95 del Villar, Roberto, 169 37, 38, 39
chain stores, 47-48 Delagarca, Jos, 5, 6, 7-9, 38 Estrada, Hermnia Nieto, 165
cinco de mayo, 121, 130 Delgado, Isabel M., 25 Estrada, Manuel, 165
cinnamon stick, 94 deportation, 42, 48-49 Estrada, Samuel, 165
Cisneros, John Valentine, Jr., 86 da de la raza, 130 ethnic minorities, non-Hispanic,
Cisneros, Mara, 80 10, 11, 100, 117
Daz, Gabriel, 167
Cisneros, Yvonne Kiki, 25, 26, 86 exorcism, 96
Daz, Porfiro, xiii-xiv
citizenship, 111-112, 120 diecisis de septiembre, 130-131 F
City Directory. See Fort Worth City diet, 93 Fashion Theatre, 9
Directory
discrimination Fernndez, F., 16
Civilian Conservation Corps
after military service, 145-146, 147 Fernndez, Ron, 193
(CCC), 143-144
community leaders vs., 91, festivals, religous. See religious
Claret, Antonio Mara, 173
151-153 festivals
Claretians, 100-102, 105, 123-124, in daily life, 23-25, 68, 82, 116,
125-127, 173 fiestas patrias, 130-132
174
Clark, Herman, 135 Flamenco, Msgr. Eustace, 101
deportation as, 48-49
Claudio Mata and His Mexican Flenniken, Mack, 135
education and, 111, 162
Charro Orchestra, 156-157, 157 Flor de Arnica, 205
in employment, 42-44
cominos, 94 Flor de Pea, 205
exceptions to, 29-30, 68
Comique Theatre, 9, 10 Flor de Sauco, 205
intra-racial, 161, 181-182
community leaders Flor de Tila Roja, 205
newspapers and, 16-17
Garca, Gilberto Cant, 143-146 Flores, Albert, 181
sources of, xiii, 48-49
Garca, Samuel, 148-150 Flores, Frank, 181
in sports, 135-136, 139-140
Jara, Manuel, 151-153 Flores, Juan, 43-44
Domnguez, Adolfo G., 136
list of, 146 Flores, Martn, 142
Domnguez, Jos Angel, 70
Mendoza, Rufino, Jr. and Sr., Flores, Robert, 181
190-193 Domnguez, Jos Jess, Sr., 61,
70-71 football, 104, 134-143, 135
Puente, Carlos, 193-197 Los forasteros de Saltillo, 172
Domnguez, Prisciliano, 70
Zapata, Louis, 186-190 Fort Worth City Directory
Dot, Fr. Aloysius S., 125-126
Zepeda, Pete and Juanita, 1885-1886, 5
183-186 Dr. J. H. McLeans Volcanic Oil,
94 1886-1887, 6
Concepcin Gonzalez, Mara, 71
1888-1889, 36
Congleton, Jennie C., 114-115 E
1890, 37
cooking classes, 116 Echo Lake, 143
1905-1906, 12
Cope, D. W., 149-150 ecumenical relations, 113
1920, 199-200
Corazn de Mara, 102 education
1928, 15
Cortz, Joseph, 37-38 church schools, 102-105,
114-117, 126-128, 201-204 earliest immigrants in, 4-6
Courtright, Longhair Jim, 2
employment and, 47, 150, 191 North Side, 11-13, 199-200
Cowtown, 2
language barrier, 119-120 occupations in, 11, 16, 36-39
coyotes, 168, 171, 182-183
language barrier in, 111-112, 115 Fort Worth Federal Writers
crafts, Mexican, 122 Project, 16
Lpez Guerra, Ral, 91
Cristero Rebellion, 29, 191 Foster, Mrs. W. L., 120
MAEAC, 190, 193
Cruz, Doa Josefa Chefa, 10 Fox, Lillie G., 105-106
Puente, Carlos, 193-197
Cuasia, 205 Franco, Hilarin, 72
el barrio de la garra (of the rag), 13
cumin seeds, 94 Franco, Martina, 191
el barrio del pujido (of the groan), 13
curandismo, 10, 78, 94-98 Franco, Reynaldo, 191
El faro (The Light) grocery store,
D 70 Franco, Victoria Ozuna, 191
Danglmyar, Fr. A., 126 El Papalote, 7, 10-11, 63, 151 Fras, Juan, 119
de la Garza, Luther, 165 El Sport, 160 Fras, Luisa, 120, 121
Index 237
G Googins, Ruth, 51 immigrant workers. See also Fort

Gallegos, Alejandro, Sr., 59-62, 60 Gordolobo, 205 Worth City Directory; tenth U.S.
Census, ix-x, xiv-xv, 39-46
Gallegos, Mike, 61-62 Gorman, Bishop Thomas K., 127
immigration. See also immigrant
Gallegos, Rosa Snchez, 59-61 Granados, Pablo, 168, 169 workers, ix-x, xiv-xv, 177-183
Gallegos, Sara Barajas, 61 Great Depression, 26, 48-49, 117, Infante, Mara, 61, 62
Gallegos, Vicente, 59-61 143-144
inmates, jail, 3, 4
Los gallitos del Norte, 171 Grimaldo, Jess C., 194
interchurch relations, 113
Galvn, Albert, 130 Grimaldo, Mara Esther, 194-197
International Good Neighbor
Galvn , Jesse, 104 Grimaldo, Theodora Gonzalez, 194 Council, 152, 152
Gmez, Edward, 65, 65 groceries, 58, 70-71, 73, 84 Ipasote, 205
Garca, Alfredo, 144 Guajardo, Dominga, 24
Guajardo, Eufemio, 85 J
Garca, Arturo, 104
Guajardo, Fernando, 24 jails, 3, 4
Garca, Bruno, 148-149
Guerra Snchez, Basilisa, 87 jamaicas, 130
Garca family, 13
Guerrero, C. S., 122 Jara, Alfonso, 10, 151
Garca, Gilberto Cant, 143-146,
145 Gutirrez, Amador F., 59, 117, Jara, Manuel, 151-153, 152, 187
Garca, Hector P., 145, 145-146 136, 204 Jimnez, Mary Frances, 187
Garca, Hope, 53-54, 56 Gutirrez, Amador G., 59 Jimmy Flores Band, 181
Garca, Isidro, 142 Gutirrez, Dave, 160 Joe T. Garcas, 53-57, 54
Garca, Jesusa Torres. See Mama Gutirrez, Ernest, 142 Johhny and the Gamblers, 158
Sus Gutirrez, Jos, 81, 124 Johhny Ayala and the Starlighters,
Garca, Joe T., 53-57, 54, 55, 68, Gutirrez, Minnie Martnez, 80-81, 158-159
72, 73 124 Jurez, Benito, 30-31
Garca, Lcio, 148 Gutirrez, Paulita, 117, 203-204
K
Garca, Mara, 53 Gutirrez, Raymond, 142
Kane, John J., 52
Garca, Mara Caldern, 148
H Katy Lake, 143
Garca, Paula, 59
Los Hacheros del Mundo, 85 kindergarten, 114-117, 119-120,
Garca, Pauline, 56 126, 201-204
Hawkins, C. Pearre, 86
Garrett, Bill, 193 Kirby, John H., 45
health care, 86-98, 115, 119
Garza, Elvira M., 25
Helbing, H. V., 87 L
Garza Gutirrez, Rafael, 95
Hells Half Acre, 2-3, 8 La Corte, 7, 8, 9-10, 29, 75-76, 81,
Garza, Luther de la, 165
Hernndez, Agapito, 184 99, 117-123, 151, 186
Garza, Manuela, 30
Hernndez, Benito, 107 La Diecisiete, 7-9, 8, 14, 35, 72, 75
Garza, Mary M., 25
Hernndez, Dominga Heurta, 184 La Fundicin, 15, 16, 80, 99, 123,
Garza, Marysol, 95-98, 205-206 124, 130, 141, 143. See South
Hernndez, George Lefty, 142
Garza, Vivian de la, 165 Side; Texas Steel Company
Hernndez, Juanita, 184-186
Gasca, Frank, 141 la ldia, 94
Hernndez, Ramn, 165-166
Gay, Geoffrey, 193 La Loma, 7, 14, 30, 125-127, 130,
Herrn, Fr. Eugene, 101 191
Gilbert, Mrs. M. S., 120
Herrera, Eddy, 193 La Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana
Girls Reserve Club, 140
Herrera, Rudy, 104 Mexicana, 117-123, 118
Golondrina, 205
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, La Villita restaurant, 62
Gmez, Faye, 163 183, 186 La Yarda, 7, 14
Gonzales, Flix, 5, 6 Hispanic Debutante Association, Lakey, W. C., 86-87
Gonzales, Riley, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 12, 150
19-20, 36, 36, 37 Landeros, Fernando, Sr., 166-172,
Holton, Joe, 52 177-183
Gonzales, Sarah, 19 Holy Name Society, 101-102 Landeros, Francisca, 166
Gonzales, Thomas E., 19-20 home remedies. See remedios caseros Landeros, Mario, 168, 182-183
Gonzalez, Jos, 196 Huerta, Victoriano, 31 language barrier, xv, 111-112,
Gonzalez, Jovita, 99-100 115, 119-120
Gonzalez, Mara Snchez, 22-25, I
Latin Souls, 159
130, 133-134 Idar, Eduardo, 145
Lawrencia, Sister, 102-104, 103
Gonzalez, Raleigh L.. See Iglesias, Fr. Celestino, 104
Gonzales, Riley Lazo, Joe, 132, 185
Ignacio, Zaragoza (poem), 131
Gonzalez, Salvador C., Jr., 21-25, Leal, Jos, 5, 6, 9
illegal immigrants. See mojados
60, 75, 130, 147 Leal, Jos A., 12
Immaculate Heart of Mary
Gonzalez, Salvador C., Sr., 20-22 Catholic Church. See Santuario Leal, Joseph, 6, 37, 39
Gonzalez, Tom, 142 del Corazn de Mara Leal, Joseph A., 36, 36, 37, 37, 39
leg opera, 9 Martnez, Minnie, 80-81, 124 midwives. See parteras

Lerma, Joe, 158-159, 159-160 Martnez, Nick, 142 military service. See also individual
Lerma, Juan, 159 Martnez, Pascacio Pete. stories, 143-153
literacy test, 39-40 See Martnez, Pete, Sr. mint tea, 94
Little Joe and the Latinaires, Martnez, Pete, Jr., 25 Miranda, Antonia Elena, 75-76,
163-165 Martnez, Pete, Sr., 25, 25-26, 34, 186
little yellow houses, 45 85-86 Mireles, Santos T., 32, 136
Longoria, Flix, 146 Martnez, Ray, 142 Mirra, 205
Lpez de Valdvia, Francisco, 87 Martnez, Fr. Raymond, 127 Mixed Company, 160
Lpez, Frank, 104 Martnez, Richard, 25 mojados, 177-183
Lpez Guerra, Aurelia, 88-93, 92, Martnez, Robert, 25 Molina, Don Pedro, 10, 94
131 Martnez, Sabina Vsquez, 22, Molleda, Margaret, 117
Lpez Guerra, Ral, 72, 82, 74-75 Montejano, David, 48
87-93, 89, 92 Martnez, Secundino, 20, 80-81 Moore, Donald, 163
Lpez, Juan, 87 Martnez, Tomasa Muoz, 20, Morton, Melvin, 140
Loredo, Catalina Tobas, 27-29 80-81
Mothers Club, 110-111, 204
Loredo, Macario, 27-28 Martnez, Yvonne Kiki, 25, 26,
86 mugwort, 94
Los Alamos restaurant, 59-62 Mulholland, Mrs. H. A. Annie,
Mary, festival of, 130
los Santos, Juan. See Santos, 100
Juan los Mascorro Rodrguez, Regina, 27
Muiz, Ramsey, 197
Los Vaqueros restaurant, 86 Mascorro Rodrguez, Ruperta, 27
Muoz, Felipa, 30
Luna, E., 120, 121 Mata, Claudio Cortz, 156-157, 157
Muoz, Tomasa, 20, 80-81
Lynch, Bishop Joseph P., 101, Mata, Paul, 142
music lessons, 111
123, 125 Matthews, Mrs. Pat, 111
musicians
Mead, Jack, 70
M Ayala, Juan Eutimio, 157-159
Medrano, Michael, 103
Macune, The Rev. Dennis, 107 Landeros, Fernando, Sr., 166-172
Mejorana, 205
MAEAC. See Mexican American Lerma, Joe, 159-160
Educational Advisory Mena, Mara, 121
Lpez Guerra, Aurelia, 88
Committee Menchaca, Anacleto Francisco,
66-70, 67 Mata, Claudio Cortz, 156-157
Mama Sus, 53-55
Menchaca, Juan, 68, 69, 172-173 Paula, 161-166
Manchaca, Martina, 183
Mancilla, J. Trinidad, 136-137 Menchaca, Leonard, 68, 69-70,
147 N
Mancilla, Trinidad Tinajero, 131 names, variant spellings of, 6
Mendoza, Apolonio, 190-191
Manrquez, Aurelio, 135 Nervina, 205
Mendoza Lawsuit, 193
Manrquez, Monica Acua, 135 New Freedom March (song), 157
Mendoza, Martina Franco, 191
Manrquez, Ral, 134-139, 135, North Side, 7, 11-15, 25-26,
138 Mendoza, Petra Rodrguez,
30-33, 35, 43, 47, 49, 52-53,
190-191
Mantecn, Andrs, 160 58-60, 68, 70-74, 81-82, 84-87,
Mendoza, Rufino, Jr., 190-193 89-93, 99-117, 120-129, 134,
Manuel Jara Elementary School,
Mendoza, Rufino, Sr., 190-193, 192 140-141, 151, 157, 160, 171-
153
174, 184-188,191-192, 197,
Manzanilla, 205 Mercado, Helen Soto, 130
199-200
map, 8 mercurio, 94
Northside High School, 135,
Mrquez, Dionicia, 63-66 mestizaje, xiii 135-136
Mrquez, Eufemia Cruz, 63 Methodist Church. See Wesley Noval, Fr. Miguel, 101
Community Center School;
Mrquez, Mauricio, 63 Nuez Moscada, 206
Wesley Community House
Marrubio, 205 nutmeg, 206
Mexican American Educational
Martnez, Cndida, 32 Advisory Committee, 190, 193
O
Martnez, Dominga. See Martnez, Mexican Presbyterian Church. See
Minnie La Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Obregn, Alvaro, 42
Martnez, Elena Ocampo, 25, Mexicana Ocampo, Elena, 25, 25-26
25-26 Mexican Relief Work, 42 occupations. See also Fort Worth
Martnez, Elisa C., 120, 122 Mexican Revolution City Directory
Martnez, Hermenejildo R., 22, and immigration, ix, 20, 27-28, cattle industry, 2, 4, 26, 66-70,
23, 74-75 31-32 construction, 74-75, 149-150, 184
Martnez, Johnny, 25 origin of, xiii-xiv in La Corte, 9-10
Martnez, Jo Linda, 151 and prejudice, 17 in La Diecisiete, 7-9
Martnez, Mike, 25 Mi Casita restaurant, 86 medicine, 87-93
Index 239
railroad, 3, 14-15 Prodigiosa, 206 Rodrguez Festive Foods, Inc.,

South Side, 15-16 Puente, Carlos, 193-197, 195 73-74
in tenth U.S. Census, 4 Puente, Genaro Badillo, 194 Rodrguez, Florencio, 71-72
Ojas de Boldo, 206 Puente, Mara Grimaldo, 194-197 Rodrguez, Helen M., 25
Ojo de Venado, 206 Puente, Mara Guadalupe Rodrguez, Juanita, 15, 102
Oregano, 206 Mendoza, 194 Rodrguez, Juanita Trujillo, 71-73
Original Mexican Eats Caf, 49-52 puffed tostadas, 78, 79, 80 Rodrguez Padilla, Margarito, 27
Pugh, Marion, 135 Rodrguez, Ral, 72, 74
Ortiz, Mara, 26-27, 157
Pulido, Dionicia Mrquez, 63-66, Rodrguez, Regina Mascorro, 27
Ostos, Enrique, 88
65 Rodrguez, Rodolfo, 71-74
Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission,
125-127 Pulido, Dolores, 62 Rodrguez, Romn, 28
Our Lady of Guadalupe School, Pulido, Pedro, Sr., 62-66, 65 Rodrguez, Rudy, 72, 73-74
126 Pulido, Vicente, 160 Rodrguez, Ruperta Mascorro, 27
Our Lady of Victory School, Pulidos Restaurant, 15, 62-66 Roosevelt, Eleanor, 122
127-128 Roosevelt, Elliott, 51
The Outsiders, 172 Q
Rosa de Castilla, 206
Quina Rosa, 206
P Rosa, Msgr. Emeterio de la, 127
quinceaeras, 133
Los Pachangueros, 172 Ruda, 206
Paddock, B. B., 48 R ruedas espirituales, 97
Padilla, Daniel, 134 racism. See discrimination Ruelas, Frank, 142
Padilla family, 82-85 railroads, 3, 14, 14-15, 36-37 Ruelas, Margarita, 156
Padilla, Hope, 27, 82-85, 129, 130 Raz de Anglica, 206 Ruiz, Gilbert, 104
Padilla, Marcelino, 27 Raz de Manzo, 206
S
Padilla, Margarito, Jr., 103 Raza Unida party, 196-197
Sacte de Limn, 206
Padilla, Margarito Rodrguez, 27 Reece, Pat, 188-189
saints, vigils to, 96
Palo Amargoso, 206 religious festivals, 129-130
Saldaa Garca, Juan, 53
Palo Azul, 206 remedios caseros, 53, 93-94,
205-206 Saldivar, Ofelia, 95
Panther City, 3
Resa, Fr. Andrew, 101 Salinas, Gabe, 160
Pantoja, Sammy, 10, 29-30, 94
restaurants Sammys Restaurant, 30
parteras, 10, 21, 78, 80, 94
Caro family, 77-80 San Antonio Restaurant, 38
passage, rites of. See rites of pas-
San Jos Catholic Church, 91, 92,
sage Cisneros, John and Yvonne
173
pastorelas, 129 Kiki, 86
San Jos Catholic Mission,
Paula, 161-166, 164 early, 38
100-102
pecan shell, 205 Gallegos family, 59-62
San Jos School, 102-105, 103, 104
Pea, Lucy, 163 Joe T. Garca, 53-57
San Juan Mission, 125
Perejil, 206 Pieda family, 49-52
San Mateo Mission, 125
Prez, Eustorgio Tojo, 171 Pulido, Pedro, Sr., 62-66
San Miguel, Lola, 49-52, 51
Prez, Gregorio, 20 Sammy Pantoja, 10, 29-30
Sanborn maps, 5-6
Prez Mercado, Romn, 29 Zapata family, 75-76
Snchez, Aurora, 22, 24
Prez Soto, Atilana, 29 Rey, Pilar del, 81-82, 173-175, 174
Snchez, Juan, 22, 24
Peters brothers, 179-180 Reza, Anita, 102
Snchez, Mara, 22-25, 130,
Piedra Alumbre, 206 Richardson, Ins, 50 133-134, 151
pilgrimages, 102, 124 Ripero, Fr. Sebastian, 101 Snchez, Rosa, 59-61
Pimentn, 206 rites of passage, 133-134 Sanford, The Rev. Al, 197
Pieda, Eva, 49-50, 52 Robb, W. H., 39-40 Sangre nortea, 170, 172
Pieda, Geronimo, 49-52, 51 Robledo family, 13 Sanguinet, M. R., 127
Pieda, Lola San Miguel, 49-52, 51 Robles, Manuel, 44 Santos, Juan los, 107
Pieda, Ruth, 49-52, 51 Rocha, Arnulfo, 151 Santuario del Corazn de Mara,
Rocha, Elena Benavides, 151 123-124, 132
polkas, 155, 166
Rocha, Jacinta, 151 Satnoyo, Bernardino, 60
Porfiriato, xiii-xiv
Rocha, Raquel, 118-120, 121, sances, 97
posadas, 129
122-123 Semilla de Cilantro, 206
prejudice. See discrimination
Rodrguez, Charles, 72, 74 sewing classes, 105-106, 110
Presbyterian Church. See La
Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Rodrguez, Ernesto, 72, 74 Sheffield, Gordon, 52
Mexicana Rodrguez, Felicitas, 72 Sheffield, Louise, 52
Shelton, JoAnn, 163 Trujillo, Mario, 47, 103 Wesley Community House, 42,
Shivers, Allan, 55 Trujillo, Raquel, 103 86-87, 105-114, 106, 108, 109,
139-140, 140, 201-202
Shook, Fred, 135
U Whitsitt, L. M., 119
Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur,
102-104, 124, 127-128 Uranga, Alfred, 104 Whitten, John Day, 79-80
Smith, Eugenia, 106-107, 117 Urquide, Marcelino Chico, 142 Whitten, Lou Caro. See Caro, Lou
Soto, Atilana, 29 Urrtia, Aureliano, 88 Willard, Ralph L., 196
Soto, Consuelo, 159 Willis, Ernesto, 161
V
Soto Mercado, Benny, 104 Willis, Eulalia Arvalo, 161
vacation Bible school, 121
Soto Mercado, Helen, 130 Willis, Pauline. See Paula
Valderas, Harold, 152
Soto Mercado, Romn, 14, 104 Woman of the Revolution, 80-81
Valdvia, Genoveva, 87
South Side, 7, 15-16, 21, 44, women, role of, 95
Valencia, Irma, 113-114
81, 89, 123-127, 141-143, Woodard, Stanley, 56
156-157, 181 Valle, Rafael Ralph Y., 59
Woodmen of the World, 85
Spanish language classes, 120-121 Vrgas de Meave, Adela, 88
Works Progress Administration,
sports, 134-143 Vrgas, Gabriel, 166
16, 33
Stewart, Jimmy, 51 Vsquez, Bobby, 167-168
Worth, Williams Jenkins, 1
street listings, 199-200 Vsquez, Carlos, 167-168
WPA. See Works Progress
Sycamore Creek, 143 Vsquez, Ciquio, 140-143 Administration
Vsquez, Emilia Camacho, 141 Wright, Jim, 51, 145, 145, 152
T
Vsquez, Gloria, 192 Wright, Mara Mary Elena, 151
Tafolla Garca, Jos. See Garca,
Joe T. Vsquez, Ins, 141
Tafolla, Refugio, 53 Vsquez, Magdaleno Leno, Y
tarot cards, 97-98 141 Yaez, Mary, 24
Tarrant County, early history of, Vsquez, Nicols, 141 Yaez, Toms, 24
1-3 Vsquez, Sabina, 22, 74-75 Yerba San Nicols, 206
Tarrant, Edward H., 1 Vsquez, Toms, 136 Yerba buena, 206
T de Cena, 206 Vsquez Zapata, Isabel, 75 Young Mothers Cooking Class,
t de estafiate, 94, 205 Vega, Francisco, 119 116
t de hierba buena, 94 Vega, Luz, 21
Z
T del Mes, 206 Vega, Ramona, 21
Zapata, Antonia Elena Miranda,
tenth U.S. Census, 3-4, 4 Vega, Tefila, 120, 121 75-76
Texas Steel Company, 44-45 Vidaurri, The Rev. Eugenio, 107 Zapata, Antonio Vsquez, 10,
Texas Wesleyan University, 37 Villar, Roberto del, 169 75-76, 186
Theatre Comique. See Comique Virgin Mary, festival of, 130 Zapata, Consuelo, 75-76
Theatre Zapata, Elena Miranda, 75-76,
voter regristration, 196-197
Tlanchichinola, 206 186
Tobas, Angela, 27-28 W Zapata, Jess, 75
Tobas Loredo, Catalina, 27-29 wages, 39-40, 41 Zapata, Louis, 150, 186-190, 188,
Torrente, Fr. Camillo, 101 wakes, 133, 133-134, 134 197
Torres, Jesusa. See Mama Sus Walls, Guillermo A., 29-30, Zaragoza, Ignacio (poem), 131
transience, 5-6, 38 117-123, 118 Zarzaparrilla, 206
Trevio, Aurelia Vrgas, 88 Walls, Raquel Rocha, 118-120, Zavala, Petra, 76
121, 122-123
Trevio, Frank, 5, 6, 6, 7-9, 38 Zepeda, Irineo, 183
Walls, William Alexander, See
Trujillo, Daniel, 103 Walls, Guillermo A. Zepeda, Jaime Pete. See Zepeda,
Trujillo, Juanita, 71-73 Pete
Washington Heights, 113
Trujillo, Lino, 72 Zepeda, Martina Manchaca, 183
Wesley Community Center
Trujillo Magalln, Mara Luisa, School, 112-113, 114, Zepeda, Pete, 117, 183-186
131 114-117, 203-204 Zweifel, Henry, 44
This book is long overdue. Cullars contribution to our understanding of how Fort Worths
Mexican American community established itself and grew into the vibrant powerful community
it is now is enormously important. It paves the way for more stories to come out of the barrios.
Carol Roark,
author of Fort Worth Then & Now
and Fort Worths Legendary Landmarks
On July 4, 1935, Joe T. Garca, Mama Sus, and their five children,
Josephine, Ralph, Pauline, Mary, and Hope, opened the family restaurant for
business under the name Joe T. Garcas. The building sagged so badly it
had been condemned, but the family repaired it, cleaned it up, and gave it a
new coat of paint. They lived in the back and operated the restaurant in the
front of their home. The restaurant consisted of a kitchen and a large room
with eight tablestwo tables for six and six tables for four persons. Both
kitchen and dining room were kept clean and spotless under Mama Sus
close supervision. Joe T. and his daughters all pitched in to help Mama Sus
prepare and serve the hot dishes, such as carne de chile adobada, enchiladas,
tacos, and tamales de puerco y de dulce. These dishes are traditional
Michoacn-style from Mama Suss native state.
. . . Garca could very well have been the first Mexicano who actively
courted Anglo business. To promote his restaurant Joe T. asked daughter
Mary to take sample dishes to the downtown offices of lawyers, judges, and
bankers. Along with the Mexican food, Mary gave each prospective customer
a complimentary flower, usually a cape jasmine. Joe T. also prepared special
banquets and invited the public to sample his dishes, in part to demonstrate
his gratitude for their continuing patronage. All these efforts, especially
word-of-mouth recommendations, paid off and helped elevate Joe T. Garcas
to the status of a premier Fort Worth institution and landmark.
from Stories from the Barrio:
A History of Mexican Fort Worth

Carlos Eliseo Cuellar-Stories From The Barrio - A History of Mexican Fort Worth - 3246

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Carlos Eliseo Cuellar-Stories From The Barrio - A History of Mexican Fort Worth - 3246

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I n his search to discover the roots of the Fort

Worth Hispanic community, Dr. Carlos Cullar

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cullar, Carlos Eliseo, 1950-

Top row, L to R: Photograph courtesy of Herlinda Balderas Garca; Photograph taken

Cover and text design by Bill Maize; Duo Design Group

Angela Guerra CuEllar

1. Mexicanos Arrive in Fort Worth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2. Stories from the Barrios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

5. Religion and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

6. Community Life and Organizations . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

7. Arts and Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Appendix A Fort Worth City Directory, 1920

seemed to be nothing extraordinary about their situation or circumstances. And

decade from 1910-1920 is characterized as one of the most turbulent periods in

them overcome the social, economic, and political challenges of subsequent

THE EARLIEST MEXICANOS

Figure 1-1 THE TENTH U.S. CENSUS, 1880

Lorenzo, Francis 35 prisoner laborer Mex Mex Mex

of the city to outsiders, usually with bright promises of commercial opportuni-

Figure 1-2 FORT WORTH CITY DIRECTORY, 1885-1886

Name Occupation Residence

Aguilar, Hijnio tamales peddler bds J. G. Carper

Figure 1-3 FORT WORTH CITY DIRECTORY, 1886-1887

Name Nationality Occupation/Business Residence

Balcazo, Hilerio Calhoun bt 7th & 8th

THE NEIGHBORHOODS EMERGE

In Fort Worth, as in most places, economic opportunities dictated settlement pat-

The initial concentration of Mexicans was at the intersection of Thirteenth and

Figure 1-4 1892 MAP OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS

La Corte, an area located southwest of the courthouse between Belknap and

THE NORTH SIDE

Figure 1-5 FORT WORTH CITY DIRECTORY, 1905-1906

Name Occupation & Location Residence

Acosta, Meryildo [sic] tailor Borschow, Levin & Safferstone

La Loma was a neighborhood consisting of about seven to ten Hispanic families

THE SOUTH SIDE

Figure 1-6 FORT WORTH CITY DIRECTORY, 1928

Name Occupation Residence

Herrera, Pedro (Irene) lab T&P Ry r. 3310 Locke

Many stories, more or less doubted, are received from the

Salvador C. Gonzalez, Sr., was born to farming parents in September 1880,

(April 1972) Born in 1889 in

Eutimio Ayala was born December 24, 1896, at Quelseo de Abasolo,

Margarito Rodrguez Padilla was born on February 22, 1903, at Villa

Catalina Tobas Loredo was born on February 22, 1898, in Hacienda de

had six children: Dionicia (Quintanilla), Ins (Gamboa), Francisco, Catalina,

While some Mexicanos encountered prejudice from Anglos, Sammy

Few people can top the genuine good-heartedness of Mexican immigrant

Benito Cardona, Sr., named

Moises Cardona graduated

(1975) Bennie Cardona

Figure 3-1 illustrates emerging demographic trends: the clustering of

Figure 3-1 FORT WORTH CITY DIRECTORY, 1888-1889

Name Occupation Residence

Esquivel, Pianio tamale peddler r. ws Rusk bt 11th/12th

Figure 3-2 FORT WORTH CITY DIRECTORY, 1890

Name Occupation Residence

Crdenas, Miss E. chambermaid Pickwick Hotel

Mexicanos actively sought to better their situations, even if it meant moving or

Demand on labor grows as many Mexicans move. Northern rush

becomes effective on May 1, Robb is of the opinion that the extensive

This article offers a window to the past, providing a wealth of information